Maybe it wasn't smart to flaunt Megatron's orders and go racing. But hot damn, when the night is this perfect and there is a gorgeous orange and black custom mod, I cannot help myself. Rolling up along side the sleek low body I swept sensors over the chassis. It was as near perfection as the fleshies could achieve. The big block engine was balanced by a larger transmission and heavier brake calipers. So, beauty wasn't only skin deep. I just hoped that it raced as good as it looked.
Reversing, I kept an eye out for any of the humans who wandered too close. I hated the feel of their oily fingers sliding over my mesh. They always left smears on my paint.
"Oh shit dude! That's an Aston Martin!"
"No that's The Aston Martin. Haven't you heard dipshit?"
"Yeah, I heard. Races, wins and takes off. Probably just some hotshot scalpel jockey from Vegas who thinks we aren't any real competition." Adjusting my left side mirror I caught sight of the two. The first one was looking me over with pure avarice.
"Probably, but with my new nitro, this race is in the bag."
Nitro? Nitrous oxide? Really? How quaint. This race was definitely going to be interesting. The thought of overloading their onboard computer flitted across my processor but I let it go. I wanted to race, not blow up their car. A deep rumble pulled my attention from the boys. What was that?
Tilting my mirrors around I tried to catch sight of where the sound was originating from. It was literally vibrating the ground under my tires. I finally managed to catch sight of the vehicle. It was red as human blood the angled headlights flashing in the dying sunlight.
"Oh my . . ." This car was flawless. Utter perfection and I growled in frustration. I was not going to be out done. "I don't care if you are a Lotus Elise, you cannot beat me."
It glided by me and I couldn't help watching trying to temper the flaring jealousy. Maybe it was time for an upgraded vehicle mode. Brake lights flashed, then reverse lights. It was coming back level with me.
"Well . . . Hellooo beautiful." A voice drawled. Shock had me settling low on my suspension. "Looks like tonight was a good night to get out of Vegas."
Tilting my mirror I caught sight of a dark haired human leaning out the passenger window. He was grinning in that weird way humans have. No, not quite a grin. A smirk. He turned to look at the driver.
"You ever seen an Aston with such a sweet custom paint job? Looks slick as glass, man."
Well now, humans with taste. Learn something everyday.
"Roll up the window Trey. We can't be seen out here. Just be thankful the driver is gone right now."
"Oh, yeah. Sorry. Lets go put our money in the pool."
Stifling a sigh I watched the Lotus roll toward the large group of humans. It was quickly hid from view as the fleshlies surrounded the stunning car.
"Slag . . ." I was being shown up. Come race time I would fix that.
The call went out to line up. My windows blacked out as I polarized them. I wasn't going to waste processing power on a hologram. The heat from the engines around me was stifling as we lined up. I refrained from revving my engine like the other drivers. Those idiots were just wasting fuel. I was third row back on the outside. Not a horrible line up. Pulling up the map I looked over the route again. We would be heading northeast on I-15. It was fairly straight and mostly level with great views of the mountains. It was a split four lane, so oncoming traffic wouldn't be an issue.
"Alright, listen up you fuckers!" I winced at the volume coming from the megaphone the human was holding. The engines stilled to a low rumble around me. "This isn't your typical quarter mile street race most of you are used to. This is going to test your skills over eighty miles of trying to stay in the front. Whoever reaches the marker at Mesquite wins the pot. The marker is at the Starbucks off of Falcon Ridge Parkway."
I glanced at my chronometer. It was midnight earth time so that meant that we, or more specifically, I would be at the location before one am. A bouncy female raised a flag waving it. Engines revved in response. I tensed. The flag dropped. The roar was nearly deafening as we shot off. I had to swing a little to my left as the car next to me fishtailed off the start. Amateur.
Pulling away I flipped my headlights on. Dusk had settled and the highway was dark, lit only by the other headlights. The cars were soon strung out along the highway. I had already hit ninety and still wasn't pulling closer to the leaders. No reason to overtax myself. There was plenty of time to pass them up. For now I would content myself with taking out the rest of the competition. It was simple really. Timing was everything and these drivers were amateurs at best and outright idiots at worst. Just weaving between lanes, slowing and alternately speeding up to cut off those that tried to pass me resulted in three wrecks within the first ten miles. So slagging easy. Too bad I couldn't go back to finish off the irritating vermin. We were up to 120, barely cruising speed for me but some of the other cars were having obvious trouble keeping a straight line with the speed.
I dodged to the side as the car in front of me suddenly blew a tire, jerked to the left and went flipping end over end. Ah well, no one said racing was a safe hobby. Now I had clear road in front of me. Pressing forward I hit 150 and settled in to see who could catch up. It wasn't long before there were headlights in my rear view. Drifting through a corner I looked back to get a clearer view of which car it was.
It wasn't the Lotus. It was the custom. Color me surprised, but considering the spec's I'd seen when I'd scanned it maybe I shouldn't be. Straightening out I just narrowly missed running down one of the native species. It was small, but still could have caused damage.
"Why can't this planet have less variety?" Seriously, humans were nuisance enough. Speaking of, the roar of that big block was steadily getting closer.
We were just passing a state park when it pulled up along side me. I glanced over but it was making no move to pass me. I speed up. It matched my speed. I slowed down. It slowed. Puzzled I tried to get a look at the driver but it was too dark.
Shaking my head I floored it, feeling the sudden increased air pressure and the first beginnings of lift on my front end as I hit 180. The custom dropped back, then steadily started gaining.
"Scrap." I was nearing my top speed. Distracted by the custom I didn't notice the sensor sweeping over me until it was too late. "What the frag!"
That was not Earth tech! My systems were tingling with the intrusion. Quickly doing my own scan I frowned. No Autobot, Decepticon or even Cybertronian signature jumped out at me. Where was it coming from? A horn blared to my right, startling me. I was drifting into the other lane and had nearly forced the mod onto the shoulder. Apparently they were unwilling to give up the ground they'd gained. Pulling back into my lane, I ran a quick systems diagnostic. Everything checked out. Except some little device stuck to my door panel. How had I not noticed that? Nothing to worry about. It was probably just some weird Earth tech I hadn't encountered before.
I made it another mile before there was a blinding flash and every system locked up. Pain shot through me. Tires squalled as I slid sideways desperate to keep from flipping, but I had no control. I couldn't even access my emergency back ups or the diagnostics. I finally came to a stop nearly two hundred feet from where it had started. I couldn't move. The mod was long gone so I chanced a transformation. Nothing happened. I couldn't even move my mirrors. I was stuck staring ahead at where my headlights little a patch of road.
"Well . . . That worked like a trick." A familiar voice drawled.
"Keep the driver covered Trey."
"I got it. He should be out if that little bug of yours did it's job."
"He's out. It worked the last four times, didn't it."
Slagging humans! I was going to kill them both slowly for this insolence! Just as soon as I figured out what they'd done to me. I shivered as two warm hands caressed my hood.
"Let's see what this baby's got under it's hood."