Chapter 49

“Most Wanted”

--*Have you ever wanted to live a different life? Be in a different place? Feel a vastly different experience?*--

--*Well I have just the answer for you*--

--*Come. Join us here at my Isekai foundation. And together we can live a different life*--

--*Far from the pressures of the hustle and bustle of the city. Far from the evil carnal sins that our flesh desires and into the holy land of cleanliness and light*--

--*Come join me for a once in a lifetime gathering where we all transfer ourselves into a different world filled with magic and wonder*--

--*Come. To Mayor Doma’s Isekai Foundation. Where you only bring yourself and we shall bring the trucks*--

--*And together we shall discover a brand new place and go on a brand new journey*--

--*Let me deliver you to a brand new world of fantasy and love*--

--*This coming- -- - -- --

-----------------------------------------------Breaking News---------------------------------------------------

This just in.

A huge group of vehicles were seen racing at a high rate of speed across the northern part of the metro at 8 o'clock this evening.

So far there have been a handful of car and pedestrian related accidents involving innocent motorists and bystanders as the racing rampages on in the districts of Marikina, San Juan and Quezon City.

We strongly advise anyone who are about to leave or are still inside their homes, malls and other establishments in the aforementioned areas to stay indoors until the police have advised that the roads are safe to travel as the areas mentioned have been escalated to alert level orange. These are the same circumstances that were issued during the raids that happened a few months ago around Aseana city as well as other parts of the metro.

Officials are now investigating into the matter if these said happenings are connected at all to the raids but as of now, their main focus is to stop and apprehend the violators who are abusing the public roads for their own amusement and restore the safety for all motorists.

Corresponding live on the scene is senior correspondent: Joseph Manta. Joseph?

-Yes I am here now and live at the intersection at Congressional Avenue and I am with these fine officers who are working overtime, and-- as you can see they are preparing the traps that they are about to set to take one of these racers out of the streets. -- Here take a good look at the camera feed -- as you can uh-- see-- these are ahh-- spikes strips that they will throw and puncture the tires as the cars go over it. Disabling the cars and as -- now.. Ohh! Ohh! You can hear them now they are coming.

The -- cars are now coming! You can hear them from afar! -- gosh it’s so loud-- you can hear them as we’ll take a safe spot from the road as-- Here they come! Here they Come!

‘I can see you dimwits from a mile away..’ Val muttered, seeing the well lit camera and police crew ahead preparing their roadblock, keeping her foot down the gas pedal. Fully committing herself to taking the police head on as she speeds towards their position, leading in front of a huge pack of street racers who are still managing to survive the chaos that she had created.

Everything went by a blur as she closed in rapidly and at the penultimate moment, just before she passed by the tv crew’s van she sees the faint silhouette of an officer deploying the spikes in front of her;

And for that precise split second, she stomps on the brakes.

The sudden braking forced her tires to lock as a puff of smoke bellowed from her tires, blurring the vision of everyone around her. The sudden braking also squats the nose of the car down low to the ground, almost scraping the GTR’s front bumper on the rough asphalt. This phenomena makes the car look like a rake as the body tilts forwards due to the sudden stop, preventing the spikes from even reaching her tires and sweeping the device away so that the other cars behind don’t get affected by the aftermath.

All of this had transpired within the span of three seconds.

And the resulting smokescreen and sparks, created the effect of being taken down by the spikes.

When the reality was that it did not have any effect. Especially on Valentina Fe.

They got one they got one! Studio you see that?!-- Oh my gosh-- Oh my!-- So much smoke and sparks this is--

[Sir you need to move there are cars co--]

--

--

Joseph?

Joseph?

Looks like we are having technical difficulties at the moment. But rest assured our metropolitan police are doing their damndest to keep our streets safe. We shall keep you posted on the updates on this ongoing situation; in the meantime here’s a few words from our sponsor’s.

‘Madam I am sorry but I need to stop the prototype now.’

‘Reasons?’

‘Dodging the pursuer’s attacks are too overwhelming for my system to keep up whilst multitasking.’ Simon said as he saw Gino lunge towards the car, calculating his trajectory mid air and swerving away from his projected position. His pursuer does lunge after lunge continuously, forcing him to make calculations while driving while doing a remote drive on the prototype, stretching his calculation power thin across multiple functions, as he barely keeps up with the demand.

So far he was at the halfway point from where they had stationed Eagle eye. But at this moment Simon was predicting total failure if he doesn't free his systems tasks immediately.

‘You can but once you’re within 500 meters of Eagle eye get his attention and get back to the prototype.’

‘Roger.’

Simon quickly finds a spot to park the prototype and relinquishes control as he reorganizes his functions to focus on the task at hand. It was a sigh of relief for Simon as he sees the huge difference in computing power without the multitask, being able to predict multiple trajectories at once, even lunges that are three to four steps away from being executed was being predicted by his calculations that he can now confidently raise the speed of his driving.

Soon enough he breaks the 500 meter mark from Eagle eye and contacts him, pointing out their general direction. It didn’t take long before Simon could hear the silent bullets whizz past his sensors as the man in the sniper roost started taking the load off of him.

‘I got him in my sights, just keep charging towards me.’ Eagle eye spoke through the radio comms.

‘Understood, just try to not hit any innocents, Major.’

‘Hah! I can’t even if I tried.’

Another barrage of bullets fly past the windshield of his car as everytime Gino tries to lunge for an attack a bullet flies past him, keeping him at bay. Frustrated, Gino lures another shot by lunging once more and as soon as Eagle eye fires a shot he immediately looks around for a faint spark in the distance, as he tries to spot traces of muzzle fire from the rifle targeting him. But as he dodges another deadly bullet he finds no trace of any muzzle flash in the distance.

‘Flash suppressor eh..’ Gino mutters to himself as he scans the rooftops in the distance, trying to guess where the shot was coming from. ‘We got some tenured people here…’

He smiles as he attempts to lunge an attack on Simon once again. ‘I wanna play but… shame… I have plans of data mining this bot.’

Gino laughs as he glares at Simon, knowing fully who the owner of the droid was as he made his move and commits his trajectory towards the android. As expected Eagle eye fires another shot, but this time Gino doesn’t dodge and the bullet hits him squarely in the chest. Rupturing the suit where it hit.

Much to Eagle eye’s disbelief, his target kept on running even after a confirmed hit.

‘Motherfucker…’ Eagle eye muttered, feeling annoyed and confused as to why the target was still standing.

He shoots again.

Hits.

Still standing.

Another.

No effect.

By this time Gino already has one hand on the car’s fender as Simon take’s note of the situation with his opponent behind him, seeing the numbers in his speedometer drop whilst his foot was fully planted on the gas pedal.

‘I seem to be losing speed. The target is slowing me down for capture. What’s the status, Eagle eye?’

‘I got him squarely but for some goddamn reason the asshole’s kept running. And I’m already using AP rounds… Dunno why he’s still alive.’

‘Don’t shoot him in the head’ Miles suddenly butts into the conversation.

‘Well even if I can, they're still traveling too fast.’

‘Negative, any more slower than this and the momentum will be overridden by the strength of his suit.’ Simon interjects.

‘Well then find something then. I need this to be handled swiftly AND cleanly.’ Miles responds, which makes Eagle eye grit his face at the sudden command.

‘Well goddammit you’re not making my job any easier.’ He complains as he resumes and peeks his eye back on the sights.

‘Find a way, find a fucking way…’ Eagle eye, muttered as he pans around the immediate area of his target. Looking closely at Gino’s position and distance for possible targets to hit.

‘Can’t I really kill him?’ He asks Miles again.

‘No.’

‘Goddammit… Anywho… it looks like they’re close enough.’ Eagle eye said with an impish smirk as he forgoes instructions and traced his crosshairs in between Gino’s eyes, firing his shot.

But unbeknownst to his opponents, Gino’s new suit has a handy little ability.

After his fight against Miles and the two girls, he had lost his original suit, due to Miles confiscating it, and was put on an immediate job suspension due to his lack of equipment.

Within those times he was subjected to numerous screening meetings, which entails being forcefully drugged by a modified truth serum that inflicts pain upon resistance to its effects.

Hence, he physically and, should he resist, mentally could not tell a lie.

Sadly the modified drug was not 100% accurate in detecting the chemicals that induce a “lie” and thus putting Gino in more pain than he would’ve thought. The people at Carbine had intended the drug to be this way, imperfect as it may be as it’s “side effects” have effective “motivational” perks.

Suffice to say Gino didn’t trust his words as much as he did before the meetings.

Nonetheless the report was gathered forcefully from his lips and from it, the people in charge ordered a new suit with some extra modifications.

One of them was extra armor plating, capable of shielding the user from high velocity sniper rounds.

And the other was a sensor for damage association.

His suit now was capable of identifying and storing damage data and morphing the suits capabilities to counter said encounter should a similar attack be identified.

It only needs a single sample hit.

In this case it is the bullet that came straight from Eagle eye’s rifle.

Once it has the sample, it analyzes the damage done by the weapon via, velocity, damage type and impact surface area. In the bullet’s case it can even predict the bullet source via reversing the hit trajectory, which was why he let the bullet hit him in the chest, resulting in a shallow puncture wound, as the suit was not able to completely stop the bullet’s momentum.

It was a small price to pay for gaining a complete advantage to his opponents, nonetheless Eagle eye just did himself a disservice by continuously shooting at him in frustration as it gained repeated phenomena on what happens when he shoots his gun.

All data from wind pressure changes, atmospheric changes, shockwave E.T.A and other data patterns his shooting would have suggested are all gathered and saved in it’s database. Which was why at the moment he pulled the trigger as he aimed for his head, Gino already knew he was going for the killshot.

The suit accurately predicted when Eagle eye was about to pull the trigger, only using the data from his repeated shots.

Somewhere within the database, the suit is reconstructing a copy of Eagle eye’s brain functions during a hostile situation;

With each and every shot of his rifle.

Just before the moment Eagle eye had pulled the trigger, the suit had already predicted he would: By half a second ahead, warning Gino to dodge before the bullet even left the barrel.

To Eagle eye it looked like a superhuman feat, as if Gino had slowed down time, physically seeing, and observing the bullet and actively dodged it without a sweat.

Eagle eye shoots once again,

And again,

And again.

Each and every time he had dodged perfectly and had forced him to run out of bullets, prompting him to reload.

This is also registered in Gino’s suit, giving him a prompt that a reload was due as he senses a split second opportunity to grab Simon.

Simon knew what was about to happen and resisted his pull for a couple more seconds but the forces that they were both exerting was too much for the car to handle as Gino had ripped out Simon, including the whole steering assembly that he held on to, clean out from the car chassis.

Simon never lost his grip but the forces were just too much for the car.

Now that the vehicle was running with no steering, the car swerved across the road violently before hitting the central guardrails of the highway. The sudden stop threw both of them out of the car and onto the asphalt. By this moment Eagle eye had already reloaded.

The few seconds he had to himself whilst reloading gave him time to recuperate his thoughts; once again setting his crosshairs at Gino’s torso.

The two were on the ground and were steadily getting up from being thrown prone as Simon readied his body for an attack.

And just before Gino could launch himself towards Simon a bullet hits him again on the chest, damaging another part of the suit, but not enough to penetrate it.

Another shot was fired.

Dodges it.

Another shot.

Dodge.

Another.

Dodge.

…

Another.

Hits.

Eagle eye found a weakness.

The suit can only recognize, and defend against, a certain pattern or patterns. A slight break from the psych profile that it built and the algorithm’s effectiveness weakens.

‘Simon!’

‘Understood.’

Another reason the shot had hit was that Eagle eye changed his aim towards the target’s shin. Though he knows fully that the suit will prevent any injuries even from a high caliber AP round.

The user is still susceptible to pain.

Simon launches himself towards a disabled Gino Blitz and puts him in a chokehold as Eagle eye lines up his crosshairs on the target’s forehead, going for the kill shot.

‘Stop!’ Simon radios in. ‘The suit might react! Let me finish this.’

Eagle eye clicks his tongue in frustration and withdraws his aim.

‘Fine. Just make sure he doesn’t get up again.’

‘Roger!’ Simon replies as he tightens his grip on Gino’s neck until he can sense his vitals fade to a certain rate, ensuring that he is in fact, unconscious.

‘Looks like your medical database has proven its practical use, Madam owner.’ Simon radios out.

‘Good. He out? Safely?’

‘Yes madam.’

‘All systems free?’

‘Yes madam.’

‘How much ram did you use on the car when you were being chased?’

‘Less than 20 percent I believe. Why the inquiry madam?’

There was a slight pause as Simon could hear some sort of commotion going on from the other side of the conversation.

‘How many of the cars can you control?’

…

…

‘Five thousand on Pink!’ Miles shouts at the counter as she hands the bartender her bet as the other rowdy men shout their wagers from the counter.

When she first arrived in south harbor the whole area was drowning in silence. It was already late at night and the tourist port had just closed as the numerous workers around the area were settling in for their siesta time before sleeping. She was surprised that the security around the area was lax and she “easily” infiltrated the warehouse where the fourteen other prototypes were stored.

“Easily” in terms of just walking in unquestioned since no one was there to guard it, nor were there any locks to secure it.

In truth she just thought of just driving one of the cars out to see how everyone around would react but it would still be a shame to have all of the prototypes in one place and only managing to take one of them so she abstained.

The next natural course of action was to think of something to get everything out of the warehouse without anyone noticing. With this in mind, there were two things she needed to address:

The first was how many can she take from the warehouse. She knew about the limitations Simon has on his hardware and at the same time it would look suspicious to see a train of futuristic looking cars flying by on the public roads.

It was good timing that Simon had just taken care of another stray factor that they anticipated, with his systems free she had concluded that he can drive five cars using his full capacity. And when including her manually driving one of them it makes for a total of six cars out of fifteen.

Leaving nine left for Carbine to play with.

The odds were still in Carbine’s favor.

Nonetheless since nothing better was coming up in her mind in terms of procurement, she decided to shift her focus on something else.

Escape.

She notices a small crowd gathering by a street side shanty diner and sees an opportunity for an opening. Switching her suit into its casual mode as she strides onto the counter with a simple goal. Starting a small commotion by making a bet on which car will get caught by the cops first.

So far she had escalated her bet against the Pink car from a measly hundred to what is now five thousand pesos. ($100 USD)

‘SIX THOUSAND ON THE BLACK CAR!’ One of the patrons of the diner shouted as Miles looked back teasingly at the man who raised his bet. It had only been ten minutes since she started the commotion but there was already a sizable crowd piling behind her.

‘SEVEN THOUSAND ON GREEN!’ Said another.

She grins before shouting. ‘TEN THOUSAND ON PINK!’

Upon declaration the other betters wore a bitter look on their faces as Miles gave them a smirking grin. ‘Does anyone want to raise the stakes?’ She teasingly asked.

‘Call!’

‘Call..’

The other betters concede, unwilling to raise the bet as they cannot pay an amount higher than what Miles had proposed.

‘Very well…’ She responds. ‘You can keep your ceiling at 10K. I’ll raise mine.’ Miles declares as she pulls out Fifty Grand in cash from her pockets.

Stunning everyone who had gathered inside the diner.

‘Can you hold this for me madam cook?’ Miles said as she slid the bundle of money to the lady fronting the counter. ‘Here’s an extra ten as a tip. Please keep these for the boys till the show is over.’

‘Okay but why not stay? Coffee’s on the house! I haven’t had this many customers in weeks!’ The lady by the counter asked as she leaned on the counter towards Miles with a flirting look.

‘I gotta do something real quick. But as long as the fifty is in your hands these fellas ain’t leavin. So keep it with you till the game's over. Alright?’

‘Okay. But what if any of the bets are wrong?’ The lady asked.

‘Then “share” it.’ Miles said with a gentle smile as she waltzed out of the diner. But just as she sent out her final word, an important memory came flashing in her mind.

‘Simon? The prototypes seem to have a link feature that gets them to share a link with other similar models.’

‘Yes madam they do.’

‘Can you root yourself better with the link feature?’

‘Yes I can be better rooted with the other units but that would also mean we’ll be sharing data with Carbine.’

‘Yes I am aware, So go setup a partition drive on our “mule” car you’re driving, and keep it from being shared. The other parts you’ll share just backdoor it. You “can” link yourself easily if you use your backdoor nodes, am I right?’

‘I can, though it would still risk a breach if I did.’

‘It’s okay. Leave that to me. I just need some form of accessibility for the cars we’ll leave behind.’

‘Roger that.’

And with those parting words, Miles lets out a little chuckle. A semblance of a plan had just been born.

And all that was left was to execute.

---Balintawak Cloverleaf Park---

---Balintawak, Quezon City---

[Cloverleaf Intersection]

9:37PM

‘FUcK! That car has always been a cheat!’ Greg shouts as he sees the taillights from Val’s GTR getting smaller in his view. He had spent quite a fortune getting the engine in his Gazoo Racing Yaris to squeeze the maximum amount of horsepower out of its already miniscule engine but it was still no match for Val’s GTR as she slowly pulled away after they made the turn going south from the cloverleaf. He had been pushing his car to the best of his capabilities ever since the race had started and he had been barely keeping up behind Val’s Pink GTR.

Vrrumm! Vrrrooomm! Vvvvffrrooomm!

He suddenly swerves his car away from the centerline of the road as a group of cars, who he assumed had taken a different route around the checkpoints, had just passed by them on the oncoming lane at a high rate of speed with the last car driving onto their lane as they tried to overtake their fellow racer.

‘Idiot!’

He shouts as he sighs in relief for surviving the encounter. He immediately felt the need to rant at the driver’s idiocy but he stilled himself to focus on catching up to Val. By the time he had gathered back his composure Val was already becoming a spec in his vision as he suppressed the urge to make haste as he tried to weave in and out of the traffic as efficiently as he could.

He sees her light up the brake lights from afar, making a sharp left towards 5th Avenue and under the dreaded northern line of the elevated rail highway.

This northern section of the rail highway was a result of poor planning due to rushed development some decades ago, as it was used as campaigning material for that era’s presidential elections.

The end product was a messy layout of columns that support the six lane rail highway above them. The road above was organized and easy to drive-through, but the roads below zigged and zagged around the messily planted highway columns that it was already dangerously confusing enough to drive at normal traffic speeds.

Right now Val and the pursuing pack behind her are about to enter this labyrinth of columns at speeds in the excess of 150 km/h.

Greg stomps on the brakes and throws the car into a drift towards the left hander, fully using his car’s four wheel drive to pull him out of the slide as the car straightens itself out and launches him an inch closer to Val’s rear bumper. The GTR’s tail lights looked slightly bigger now as he had clawed back some of the distance he had lost from her.

Sadly at the speed they were going, Greg wasn’t given any time to breathe as his vision suddenly became bombarded by the dreaded columns underneath the rail highway.

Left and right became right and left then left once more, dodging and weaving regular traffic and solid obstacles, Greg could barely keep his foot down on the throttle as he tries to balance the control of the car’s grip with his feet. Braking when slightly fast and speeding up when slightly slow but never trying to break the limit of what the car can take as a misjudged move will send the car sliding.

And losing grip in moments like these will most certainly lead to an accident;

As he passes by the wreckage of a fellow competitor on the oncoming lane.

The car pancaked flat as it stuck one of the columns dead center.

Thankfully he saw a glimpse of the driver standing near his wrecked car, looking badly shaken.

‘Must be with that group that went the other way…’ He thought as he was brutally reminded of the stakes of illicit racing.

Suddenly a flash of light.

He quickly swerves to avoid but his moves were too sudden that his car had lost all grip as he sent himself into a sudden spin and into a full stop byu the side of the road.

Now facing backwards, he got a full view of the incident that was supposed to happen behind him.

A head on collision with another driver who couldn’t react in time.

Smokes.

Sparks.

And a puff of flames.

The immediate picture that evolved in front of Greg’s eyes.

His ears;

The immediate gut wrenching crunch of beautiful sculpted metal panels, turning into scrap.

It was enough to temporarily make him blind and deaf.

But as the dust settled, the culprit was revealed.

It was a police vehicle that collided with one of their own.

And to make it worse, the police squad that traversed from the oncoming lane didn’t stop in caution and proceeded head on while his compatriots had grinded to a halt after witnessing such a horrible crash.

Who knows what accidents had been caused down the road as he knew the other drivers at the back were still racing in full throttle, not knowing that there were police cars torpedoing themselves into their race cars.

And then another surprising sight.

Almost a football field away from where he had spun he sees their commander in chief.

Also stopped.

‘She probably thought it was too dangerous to go on’ He thought. But as soon as he did, the pink car moved;

And rocketed away in the distance.

This moment confused him as he looked back and forth between the scene of the accident and Val speeding away. The concern and camaraderie of the other drivers in clearing the way for the traffic as well as checking on the victims of the accident versus the calm and cold gesture of the pink GTR howling away into the distance.

And it came to him.

-That Val doesn’t care about them-

As the thought steadily creeps it’s way into his mind.

His heart sank.

And then;

Rage.

‘Hey! Miss Lambo. You still out with that old man?’ Miles radios in as Lorna’s face sours after hearing the tyrant’s dreadful voice.

‘What?’ She answered.

‘I know it doesn’t suit your car but can you pick up Eagle Eye for me? He’s old and is tugging a huge gun along with him so he can’t exactly just flag a taxi down and get himself home.’

‘WHa-?! Doesn’t he have a case where he can hide the damn gun?’

‘He does, but you also know the security detail around his house.’ Miles explained making Lorna roll her eyes after realizing how convenient everything was for Miles to order everyone around.

‘And remember we need to make sure that he has an alibi of never leaving his residence. The cops and their “associates” are starting to tighten their grip now with all this chaos happening.

I just don’t want him being caught up in this mess as much as possible.’

Lorna takes a deep breath so she could sigh at the sudden unplanned request but a sharp pain stops her from filling her lungs further with air, remembering that she sustained some injuries in the fight against Gino. She was sore and tired from running and hiding and driving all day and all she was asking was for the whole operation to be over, nonetheless, she wasn't feeling excited after hearing that she had one more task to do.

‘This better be the last one Miles.’ She replied.

‘Maybe. Update me on the status.’

‘Dammit… what a fucking slave driver.’

‘Ooohohoho… You said it.’ Lando chimed in.

‘By the way, here's the coordinates.’ Miles radio’s back. ‘And shut the fuck up Lando.’

And as her voice signs off the radio Lorna and Lando could only stare at each other in silence after getting exposed. Suffice to say there had been an air of awkwardness inside the cabin for the duration of the drive as they traveled towards the destination Miles had set. Sadly the awkwardness wouldn’t stop when they finally meet their objective.

‘Wait so how are we going to accommodate another passenger again?’ Lando asked.

‘Sorry Lando…’ Lorna replies as she steps out of the car to greet Eagle eye.

…

…

‘Kill me… Now…’ Lando mutters as he tries to pop his head out from the seat rest to get some fresh air. They had no choice but to arrange the seating they had arranged now since a Lamborghini is not a car that can seat more than two occupants at any given moment. They can only compromise to fit the sudden request and the resulting outcome was to have Eagle eye sit on Lando’s lap, since in terms of body type, the former was lighter than the latter.

‘Don’t cha pop a boner now…’ Lorna quips as the two old men stare back at her with infinite curses spouting from their angered, disgusted eyes.

‘Anywho… sorry for the bother.’ Eagle eye responds to change the topic as he leans forward making sure to create some distance from Lando’s body. ‘Still I’m surprised my gun actually fit inside the trunk in front of the car.’

Lorna chuckles subtly, noticing the pair beside her trying to cope with the discomfort of their unfortunate predicament, she can’t deny that the sight of the two of them cramped and awkward was amusing to look at.

‘I’m surprised here myself. Not gonna lie, I was secretly hoping it wouldn’t fit so I can tell Miles off that she was asking for something ridiculous but… It’s getting kinda annoying that she’s right all the time.’ Lorna spoke unabashedly.

‘Wow… that stings… leaving an old man alone like that?’ He replies, playfully trying to make her feel guilty. ‘That attitude kinda reminds me of my grandson for some reason.’

‘Well he must be a sweet boy then.’ Lorna flirted.

‘I think you know him already.’

‘Really?’

‘His name is Denzo.’

‘Wait what? Really? Small world! Never expected this kind of surprise when I woke up this morning.’ Lorna answered. The tone in her voice, for some reason, sounded like all the energy that she lost from all of the tiring things she had done that day was regained with this one interaction.

‘Yeah I was surprised when Miles mentioned it. I thought that boy got himself into trouble again after we parted ways because of the raids. It’s nice to know that he's met people who might actually realize his dream.’ Uncle Thor, the man known as Eagle eye, said with a great feeling of contentment in his voice, knowing that the boy had found a direction that he truly loved.

Lorna chuckles meekly as she is enveloped with a cushion of warmth around her. She never knew that the boy had the same dreams that she and Val had, as she starts to feel a small inkling of kinship with the young man she had met back in the mountains.

‘That’s nice to hear.’ She finally replies with a smile. ‘Though I’ve never gotten to know him much yet, It’s my friend Val who spends the most time with him after all.’

‘Oh really? What’s she like?’ Uncle Thor asks.

Lorna hesitated for a moment as she wracks her brain for a good term to describe Val, fearing that it might change the mood of the conversation if she wasn’t tactful in revealing how Val treats Denzo.

‘Well she’s like a strict teacher. Never hesitating to reprimand any wrongdoing but doing it because she cares about the boy’s well being...’ Lorna said as she bit her lips after speaking those words. She knew she didn’t tell a blatant lie but her insides were cringing as if she had just told the worst ever unbelievable lie anyone can ever tell. And every second that Uncle Thor sits in silence was making her cringe even more to the point that she feels like biting her own lip off due to the discomfort her words had brought to her.

‘Ah, I see…’ He replies as crickets continue to chirp.

Lorna was struggling to cope with it as her hands were itching to turn the radio on but just as she was, the man spoke again.

‘Finally!’ He shouts, as laughter follows his sudden outburst. ‘You know everyone in my family was havin’ such a hard time gettin’ that boy to listen. He’s just a problem child and trust me, even I, with my military training and all that bullshit, was havin’ a hard time disciplining that little shit.’ Uncle Thor said as Lorna froze wide eyed at the wheel. Shocked at the sudden shift in his tone.

‘You know if she’s giving that kid an earful of reprimands to expose all his bullshit then I am in full support of that. It’s about time that kid learns a thing or two about being a responsible member of society.’

‘Oooohhhh weeee, sounds like that kid’s a handful.’ Lando butted in.

‘Oh goodness, you tell me… He’s even harder to raise than my own children.’

‘Welp… It’s one of the reasons why I didn’t want to have my own… that shit scares me…’ Said Lando.

‘I know… Such a pussy…’

‘Wait Miles? You’ve been listening?!’

‘...’

‘Pffft!’

Lorna was trying to hold her laugh but it was too much as the whole situation devolved into a laughfest with Lando as the butt of the joke.

But more importantly, everybody kept quiet about what Miles had said.

…

…

‘We’re here…’

Lorna breaks the silence as they pull up a few blocks away from Uncle Thor’s house. He quickly gathers his equipment from the car as Lorna nods to him and tells him to wait for the sirens around his home to sound off.

He didn’t quite get what it meant but he decided to stay put for a moment as he watched the green Lamborghini drive away into the darkness. A few minutes later he hears the familiar sound of police sirens echoing around the block, along with the all too familiar engine note of the car that had brought him here.

‘Good luck kid.’ He said as he ran back to his household under the guise of chaos.

…

…

‘Well what’s the plan now?’ Lando asks as he grips the passenger handle tight, trying to keep himself secure while Lorna whips the car around the corners with little concern.

‘Miles, what's the status on Val?’ She radios in.

‘Why you asking me?’

‘You’re the one creeping in everybody’s channels.’

‘Well I needed to find a way to get constant updates that you people aren’t giving so back off!’

‘Well I need an update on Val’s status so just give me an answer!’

--sigh-- ‘Well missy sorry to tell you but she shut off her comms so no. I can’t give you an update.’

Lorna looked profoundly dumbfounded. ‘How wise…’ She responds. Sarcastically.

‘Ugh… whatever…’ Miles replied.

‘I might be able to ask.’ Simon chimes in.

‘Oh Hi I believe we haven’t gotten acquainted yet?’ Lorna responds.

‘Oh hello I was the guy who saved you at the park. I am called. Simon.’

‘Hi Simon, nice to finally meet you. Glad that there’s at least someone on that end of the line who’s actually easy to talk to.’

‘Ugh…’

‘Got it! The person in question is headed towards the Araneta Center via 5th Avenue. If you have a partner with you I can send possible routes for interception.’

‘I have an old man named Lando Sulit riding shotgun.’

‘Hey!’

‘Scanning contacts… Sent! Goodluck on your journey.’

‘Why thank you in particular Simon!’

‘You’re Welcome! In particular too.’

As the conversation ends, Lorna sighs as Lando picks up an atmosphere that he dares not to welcome.

‘You in love?’ He peers.

‘I think I just found my type… after all these years. Just now…’ Lorna replies with stars in the glimmer of eyes.

‘He’s… well… I assume since he sounds like one… a droid.’

‘Yes.. he is and he saved me from that asshole… what a dreamboat…’

‘But he’s a…’

‘I said a TYPE! Not the actual guy but a TYPE! Learn the difference zoomer!’

‘Fine Fine, Whatever!’

‘Just… Let’s just get to Val alright? We have a huge tail on our backs and I wanna go home already.’

She complains just as she looks at her rearview, seeing all the police units that were patrolling around Uncle Thor’s home chasing them. Lando sighs and checks his phone for the data that Simon had sent him and relays the route info to Lorna.

‘Take the west exit. We should be able to catch up to the pack just before she reaches Araneta.’

‘Roger that!’

A flash of pink.

Followed by its shadow.

After miles and miles of racing at high speeds, dodging cars and avoiding police;

Only two remain.

A Pink R34 GTR and a Black GR Yaris.

---Circumferential Road [3]---

---Santa Mesa Heights, Quezon City---

[Funeral Row]

9:44 PM

Val and Greg have just arrived at the part of the metro that serves as the zombie capital of the city.

The aforementioned: Funeral row.

Nobody in the metro fully knows the history as to why all of the biggest funeral parlors in the city decided to set their facilities in this hilltop area of Quezon City’s residential quarter. Some say it was because the area also has a high concentration of hospitals nearby whilst some speculate it was decided because of the area being a dense residential district.

Either way ambulances were a frequent sight and lights were non-existent as most of the people still living in the area tend to turn in early making the colorful lights that used to dart their surroundings earlier quickly turn into an ogrish desolated hue. The only lights that remain are on their own cars’ headlamps and the eerie bluish white hue of the surrounding hospitals and funeral parlors.

A slow chill went up Greg’s spine as he finally recognized the lack of other lights in front of him. To make it worse, most of the cars roaming in the area were unkempt and unloved and in the pitch blackness of the night it wouldn’t be out of place to encounter a lone passenger car with missing tail lights.

If his concentration wanes for just a moment, he might exactly end up in an accident.

He kept his eyes glued to the tail lights of his rival. A person whom he had highly respected but has now shattered all of his perception of her.

He had met Val a few years prior as a strong headed business woman who had the same passion for cars as he does, finding and coordinating car meets and establishing a template of forming activities for car clubs that became a staple of how such clubs should be run across the country. She was the spearheader for uplifting the car scene in the metro, which was within a country whose only sport obsession was either Basketball or Football. But it wasn’t that spearheading, gung ho trait that convinced him to follow her unquestionably, it was because her passion for cars had exceeded his.

Gregory Rubio only liked the way cars looked, and sounded. He liked the way they darted around the asphalt with all of their power and might, but beyond that, he never really imagined that there’s even a sliver of pleasure in driving them.

He only saw them as mechanical marvels, pieces of dynamic art, or rather, he felt afraid of experiencing their capabilities for himself.

But Val talked about the way they had driven so passionately, with a rare glimmer in her eyes that he had never seen on anyone he had met before. Everytime they were out on a car meet she would always do burnouts and donuts and do a small figure eight drift on the parking lot that they were gathering on.

In the eyes of most people there, she was that lively crazy driver, not afraid of blowing an engine or wasting a set of tires. She was the person who relished in the love of the machine and all of what it was capable of.

She taught everyone who attended the meet ups with her that their cars were more than expensive pieces of jewelry. She taught everyone that cars are capable of many different things and that brand, performance nor pedigree didn’t matter when it comes to their enjoyment.

‘If your four wheeler can spin its tires, it’s good enough. You don’t need to drive a Ferrari to truly feel you're alive.’ Her words that had struck him dearly.

A lot of people had left during the days when Val was spreading her influence. THose people mostly thought that her way of doing things was expensive, and mini “fun races” she was proposing during those times were too impractical and would put most of the driver’s precious cars at risk.

Which was correct.

And that they had every right to protest and leave.

But for the people that stayed, stayed for the same reasons why the other left. The only difference was how they had taken the criticism.

They felt like posers.

Greg knew this, because he was one of those who had stayed.

The frustration that they felt and the cringe of the realization that they were just throwing money away for no reason at all.

Buying top of the line turbo kits, headers and exhaust pipes;

But never really using them for their intended purpose.

Installing roll cages, rear spoilers, aerodynamic body kits and carbon fiber body panels;

Without the intention of decreasing weight, making downforce or making the car safer.

Working day and night in dead end jobs for the sake of affording vanity for a car that would never reach its full potential.

It felt more of a waste compared to Val’s weekly antics of blowing up engines and lighting up tires. At the very least the parts she was installing had a purposeful life cycle.

There’s were just sitting there looking pretty, and when they were tired of it; They’ll either sell it to someone stupid enough to buy an already chopped up car, or just let it rust in a backlot.

Nonetheless, they changed their ways. Detuned their cars and would switch their activities from just merely hanging around a parking lot looking pretty, to going up drives in mountain passes at night and barely following the speed limit.

At that time Val was still planning something big for their activities but for some reason she couldn;t get the funding and influence to organize something radical.

An actual race.

She tried to do so legally, offering up the benefits of holding a festival type event where cars would speed around a closed street circuit around the grounds of the event. Kind of similar to a popular racing game a couple of years back when gaming consoles were still a thing.

But nothing came to fruition.

It also didn’t help that most of the people who didn;t like the way she did things were also the same people she needed to convince.

It was during those times where Greg finally saw a more humble side of the lady, sadly it was also those times where she felt like giving up.

She started to appear less in the car meets.

She would start to answer her phone less and less with her excuse being that she was busy building a project with an old friend of hers. A sort of a pleasure island kind of project where kids and adults alike could escape the world’s tedious expectations and just let go.

He only visited the place once.

It was amazing.

But he was also an adult, with a very expensive hobby to upkeep. And with time, he found himself in the same situation, gradually losing interest and stopped driving altogether.

A year had passed and news of cars racing around the metro started to create a buzz within the car clubs around the metro. Everyone was asking around on who was racing around the streets again. Everybody speculated that it was Val but the leading driver in question was far from how Greg knew Val’s philosophy was.

An Apple Green Lamborghini was always spotted leading the pack, and the cars that followed her were unfamiliar to most of the car club members who had witnessed a glimpse of them racing. Then news of a mysterious benefactor who was willing to pay drivers to race around the streets reached them. Was this the thing that Val used to talk about?- He thought. And of course, curious, he accepted.

He and plenty of others.

And they were all decimated one by one.

The rule was to never be overtaken by three black cars. After the first race around Batangas, he barely survived. And in the second race at the Rail highway, he lost, but the race was also sabotaged.

By a car that he would soon face as his rival.

Then Val came out of nowhere. Calling them out of nowhere. And meeting them about a test race. Also out of nowhere.

It was all sudden but he could also see the shine come back in her eyes and the enthusiasm she had for the mutual love they all shared.

She was back.

But not for long.

After the race at the zigzag road Val had changed for the worse. Her enthused way of speaking became sour and tired. The passion that he felt radiate from her persona was replaced by an uncanny impatience and frustration that he had never encountered before and after that;

She had disappeared.

And she was gone for a long, long time. Most of his friends from the other clubs tried to call her associates who ran her businesses, but they all had the same answer.

“We don’t know where.”

And now she returns once more.

Her white one eighty, gone and replaced with a car that went away from her philosophy of pedigree. Her enthused energy tainted with haste and frustration and to make it worse, it seemed that she had made even more enemies than before.

Greg doesn’t know what was happening anymore. He doesn’t know why he had followed her faithfully even though he could see the red flags from a mile away. He doesn’t know where she got her car. He doesn’t know why they were even racing and for what. Even when she had made the rules for racing and the rewards for competing, for some reason it all felt like an elaborate lie.

All he knew now was that one of his compatriots might’ve just perished, and she never even batted an eyelash in concern. Everyone was ready to throw their lives away for her, and she just stepped on that dedication like it was nothing.

She never cared.

She never had respect.

She always looked down on them.

Three things he had realized as he reminisced about all of those moments before.

She never reciprocated the friendship that they offered. She talked about herself and always steer the topic back to cars. She never came when someone in the club had a birthday or any other club gathering that didn’t include a drive.

Nothing.

It was always cars for her.

And as he remembers the rage deep inside of him continued to bellow as it grew larger and larger, swelling up in his chest.

‘Does she really see us that way?’

‘After everything we’ve done, Are we still those posers?’

‘Is this not enough for you?’

The questions that grew out of those burning feelings started to engulf him. And in the middle of the pitch black darkness. Surrounded by the corpses of the people being prepared for their final resting place.

He found his resolve.