Previously, on Rogue:
“Fun?”
Nikki chuckled on the other end,
“Come now, don’t tell me you 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. 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 want to?
“When and where?”
…
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Quarter past 10.
Tall, multistory skyscrapers grew closer as the green machine made its way towards the meetup mentioned by Nikki.
You sure tend to lose track of time once you’re having fun, Simon thought to himself as he now swerved the Z onto the next exit leading off the freeway, now heading towards the heart of Bayview; the bustling ever busy downtown district known as the City Center.
Nikki mentioned it was close to the Hotel Plaza area; a small under construction roadway that had previously been closed off due to construction work since the last three to four years due to work being halted.
Which was a real shame because had the road been built, it would have saved everyone the trouble of having to deal with the plaza area traffic just to reach the other side.
Eventually towards the end of 2005, the street racers and local gangs took it upon themselves to tear down the barriers blocking the road and make it open to everyone – even if most of the road remained largely uneven with patches of missing tar.
The roar of engines growing closer caught the youth’s attention as he glanced at the rearview mirror, noting three colored headlight beams approaching. And as expected, heading towards the meet, no less.
Simon picked up the pace, catching up to the three in no time, covertly following behind them as the four cars now headed towards the entrance of the road, immediately greeted by the bumping hip hop tunes from the nearby subwoofers stuffed into the back of parked Hummers and Escalades,
Girls posing over the parked riced-up tuners as geeks with cameras bigger than their faces snapped shots of them left and right; clicking away while trying their utmost best to contain their nervous selves.
Just down the road where the street ended and the intersection began, four cars blocked either sides of the oncoming road as a yellow RX-8 and red S2000 – their tires screaming in sync with their engines, spun around doing colorful donuts.
Simon parked up next to an empty spot next to a white 180SX, stepping out and taking in a deep breath; a large smile on his face,
This. This is what he lived for.
The Underground.
Looking around, he still couldn’t find any sign of the mysterious Nikki. Who he STILL wasn’t sure why she was so adamant to get him to race her supposed best friend’s car. It made no sense.
The car’s Cingular system started going off again, indicating a voice message. Simon slipped back in, pressing ‘accept’,
“I see you listened to your gut and not your trust-fund kid boss. Good boy,” Nikki’s sarcastic voice echoed through the speakers, “My contacts tell me they saw the Z pull up, with you at the driver’s seat. Right on time, too,”
“Your… contacts?”
“Shush, now. Wouldn’t want to spoil all the fun just yet,” Nikki simply interrupted, followed by a short fake laughter, “All that matters is that you’re here, and we can now put the second phase of our plan in motion. Now, hand the car over and step away from it.”
He knew it. Of course this would be a setup.
Simon watched quietly as two peculiar looking light blue modified WRX Imprezas with electric blue headlights slowly rolled up; fixing the green Z in their cold, icy gaze.
“Nikki. You better not be screwing me over here,” Simon replied calmly, but dangerously low,
“Trust me when I tell you this, but I feel no attachment to this car whatsoever, so I won’t hesitate in wrecking it to zero value either if you come at me for a fight.”
“Oh honey, do you honestly think I’m that stupid? Come now, where’s the fun in that?” Nikki simply chuckled back, “And besides. You wouldn’t want to disappoint Adrian now, would you? Especially when he trusts you so very much.”
Now he was losing his cool,
“Heh, Adrian? Please,” Simon scoffed, “Hot rides getting wrecked during extraction is all common. Blood under water. Adrian might be disappointed, sure, but he knows this is an occupational hazard.”
Simon lied. Of course, Adrian would be royally pissed and would rip him a new one should he end up damaging the rides, especially one as valuable as this one. Nikki, however, seemed to take the bait as she stayed silent on the other end for a few seconds, before eventually speaking again with a more serious tone,
“I see. Anyways, now that you’re here, it willbe a shame if you didn’t race, though, don’t you think? If anything, you’ll still be able to test the car and earn a few Benjamins on the side,”
The blue WRXs backed away slowly; retreating back into the shadows.
The youth narrowed his eyes. No way it’ll be this easy,
“And what’s the catch?”
“You lose, you hand the car over to us; Paradyne.”
Simon froze at that name; his throat almost drying up.
“What did you say?” he stuttered, “P-Paradyne...?”
Nikki seemed to smile from the other end as she continued,
“Yes, pretty boy. The same Paradyne that will revolutionize racing as a whole. The same Paradyne that Gina had been talking to before your falling out.
Of course! He could remember that blue jungle cat head for a logo anywhere; plastered over the side of the WRXs that still had their eyes set on him even from afar – ready to pounce if he made any sudden movements.
Paradyne was a tech firm that specialized in making powerful ECU systems for cars. Their ECUs were expensive, sure, but were still some of the best on the market and sold quickly with the rich kids who wanted quick power but didn’t want to bother with getting their hands dirty in building their cars themselves. Paradyne would take your car and – for lack of better words, ‘transform it’ to its full potential.
“Hold up,” Simon responded, still trying to process everything, “What’s Paradyne doing organizing a car meet for street racers? What interest does your bougie CEO have in us?”
“Why not?” Nikki replied simply, “Why do you think I’m here with them? A former seasoned street racer myself who’s got no crew holding her back? Why do you think any of us forgotten racers of the past would be here?”
Simon stayed silent, letting her continue,
“It’s because Paradyne has decided to expand its operations past just performance upgrades. We are expanding. Mr. Fawkes has offered me and a few others to join his new crew to help in achieving his… plans.”
“A crew?” Simon interrupted, blinking.
“Yes. A crew. Consisting of lost souls who were all once something, but were reduced to nothing. Either due to the circumstances of time, or lack thereof. Mr. Fawkes has promised us the fame and riches we deserve. And we will not disappoint him.”
“And let me guess. You want me to… audition?” Simon began, “To join you guys?”
“You have talent, Simon. You’ve always had it,” Nikki continued, her tone gentle now, “But you’re wasting your potential with the Arellis. They don’t care about you! Once you’re done helping retrieve all remaining ten cars, you know Adrian and the others will flick you away like a fly that’s fallen in a drink. Think about it! Why stay loyal to the mafia, when you can be part of something far, far greater? Forget your past and move past it!”
Simon simply sighed on the other end, shaking his head.
“You must really take me for a class-A idiot, huh?” he chuckled sarcastically, “Do you honestly think I would ever for the life of me join hands with someone working alongside Gina? After what she did?! After she killed-...”
He stopped himself, unable to utter the name,
Her name.
“Fine. Suit yourself, I guess,” Nikki replied, back to her usual cold tone. “Just know once you lose this race – and there’s a strong chance you might. We won’t hesitate to peel you out ourselves.”
…
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Three cars rolled up onto the starting line; a crowd of people cheering and hooting at their favorite drivers from either side.
On Simon’s left side was a modified metallic red MR2; the windows tinted a deep red, reducing the driver sitting behind it to an obscure silhouette.
On his right was a pimped out silver CR-X that looked like it had more money dumped into building it than how much the car initially costs.
And right next to it on the far right was a black Golf R32 that looked mostly unappealing, safe for the large air intake in place of its left headlight.
The four cars revved and roared, inciting even more cheers from the onlooking crowd who were busy taking shots with their PDAs and flip-phones,
A skimpily dressed girl walked onto the middle of the road, dressed in a yellow tube top, a very prominent bellybutton piercing that glinted from the light of the headlights on her, and blue miniskirt with knee high brown boots.
“Ready?” she called out over all the noise, raising both arms up in a circular motion,
The red MR2 redlined; cracks and pops spitting from the exhausts.
“Set…” the race starter continued, her hands now spread out to her side,
The silver CR-X – initiating its hydraulics; started bouncing the car up and down in excitement.
The girl gave all cars one final look, winking at nobody in particular before…
“GO!”
She threw her arms down to her side, kneeling to her knees as all four cars – shifting perfectly into gear, tore out past her and bolted down the road at the signal; followed by the crowd going nuts as they hung back, clapping and cheering.
At the head of the pack, was Simon; expertly moving through the gears of the 350Z while keeping his cool and swerving through traffic, followed closely by the red MR2. The Golf and the CR-X, meanwhile, were left far behind as they tried their utmost best to take each other out.
Whatever. Two less idiots for him to worry about,
The Nissan and the Toyota swerved through the busy streets of City Center; the V6 and the inline-4 an orchestra as the two battled their way for first position.
“Oh no you don’t!” Simon snapped, blocking the MR2’s path as the car tried to overtake him from the right side using the oncoming traffic to its advantage,
Oldest trick in the book.
“Alright, let’s see you take this on for size,”
Simon gently yanked the handbrake, locking the rear wheels momentarily and throwing the car into a mild drift as he power-slid through the apex of a sharp right turn before blitzing through the infamous triple fountains in the middle of City Center square smoothly; a spot that was responsible for totaling many a racer in the past.
“What the...-?!”
To his absolute shock, the driver of the MR2 pulled off the exact same move, sliding between the fountains and overtaking Simon on the next turn,
And to add further insult to injury as the car pulled out the corner; twin blue flames shot out the exhaust tips, rocketing the car ahead even further.
Nitrous oxide. Of course he’d have that too,
Simon glanced at the ‘NOS’ tachometer bolted onto the dash of the Z. Only half a tank left.
Dammit. But it’s still better than nothing at this point.
After gaining enough speed and distance, Simon shifted the car into the final sixth gear before mashing both thumbs onto the red buttons bolted onto the corner of the T-shaped steering wheel,
Cool nitrous oxide gas shot through the tubing that lined the underside of the car before bursting out the back of the green monster in a burst of blue; revving the engine all the way to nine thousand revs and shooting it far ahead.
“WOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!”
Simon felt himself physically being shot back in his seat from the g-force, easily breaking past a hundred and ninety miles, crossing into the two hundreds, as he sailed past the MR2; leaving it in the dust and crossing the finish line first,
The crowds of people already waiting at the start line clapped and cheered; chanting Rachel’s name as they gathered round the beautiful beast.
Sure. Of course they all thought this was Rachel behind the seat and not him. But he didn’t care at this point. He got to race this legendary machine and that’s all that mattered to Simon.
The youth glanced over to the side, noticing the red MR2 finally crossing the line next and screeching to a halt nearby; completely ignored by the crowd that continued to cheer for the Z.
A loud honk of a horn caught everyone’s attention as they stepped back and away from the car; giving way to a light blue Mustang GT as it slowly approached Simon, parking right next to him,
The window of the driver’s side slid down, revealing a beautiful woman at the wheel with long, flowing blond hair and a cool, unbothered expression. She wore a light blue varsity jacket with the iconic wild cat’s head logo and dark blue sleeves.
“Well done. As if anyone had any sliver of a doubt,”
Nikki began, just as Simon too slid down his window, watching her count something as she turned to look down in her lap.
“So, what now? You’re just going to let me go?” Simon began, raising an eyebrow quizzically,
“Yeah. A deal’s a deal,” Nikki replied simply, holding up a fat brown envelope and tossing it at Simon who barely caught it, “Like you said. This was a sort of audition. Mr. Fawkes wanted to see how you drove for himself, and now he has and he’s impressed. Very impressed.”
Simon took a minute to look into the envelope, noticing a thick stack of what looked like a thousand-dollar bills neatly tucked inside,
“So impressed that he couldn’t come up here and face me himself, huh?”
The young man shot back, earning a simple eye-roll from the woman.
“Sorry, but you’re not that special, Simon. Not yet at least,” she began, a small smile on the corner of her lips, “Keep crushing it out there, and you’ll hear from us again. Soon.”
And with that, she rolled her window back up, shifted into gear and sped off into the night.
Simon simply sat there, watching the Mustang disappear down the road as the crowd of people soon dispersed and the racers went their way.
All except the red MR2. Which remained where it was, watching and observing.
A few silent minutes later, the car simply backed away too and drove off in the opposite direction, eerily.
Huh. Weird.
Speaking of weird things,
The buzzing of Simon’s cellphone caught his attention as he turned to look down; his face losing all color as he noticed fifty or so missed calls from none other than Adrian.
“Shit…”
ns216.73.217.39da2
and then Add to home screen.