One car in exchange to know what a man's made of. That's a price I can live with.

Han

Prologue

Crysis

Haiari Luraiya's hands gripped the steering wheel nervously, excitement rampaging in the blood that flowed through her veins. Her heart beat heavy, quickly, pounding and pounding within her chest, almost till she was in pain. She repeatedly at randomly moments shook her head, just to get that salmon colored hair out of her eyes so she could have a clear view of the dark highway passage in front of her. Crimson eyes scanned the darkness of the night, only being allowed to see where the streetlights were suspended over. "Ohh...gosh I'm so nervous..." She muttered out hastily, a heated breath escaping into the cold air. "And cold..." Haiari shivered, reaching one hand around the side of the fresh new bucket seat and then pushing it closer to the brakes and accelerator. A cold foot, wrapped up in a sock and a leather boot continued pressed down on the accelerator, making sure to keep his engine warm. She couldn't really help it anymore. She released her gloved hands from the steering wheel and pulled them back, tightening up her black coat and straightening up the collar. Another chilly breath escaped from her chapped lips, as she continued to attempt and straighten her clothes out. Comfort and warmth was what she wanted right now. Both of which were something that could possibly soothe her restless mood, even if just a little bit. "Can you control yourself for a bit Firestorm?"

"Yeah I got it, don't worry about a thing." An excited voice had stretched out from the speakers of the 1974 Dodge Challenger Road/Track, an old classic American muscle car. The low voice had rumbled throughout the interior of the car, as the steering wheel had begun to straighten out on its own. Firestorm kept his speed on the highway a little bit over the speed limit, winter winds rushing and skimming the lines of his glossy red paintjob. Quad headlights, two on each side, shone bright and helped light their pathway. The signal light flashed on Fire's right side as the fresh new Bridgestone wheels curved, the gentle and luminous moonlight bouncing off the chrome black rims that sheltered the matte red brake calipers underneath its metal. Moving into the other lane, Firestorm accelerated past the car that was just parallel to him, his engine purring quietly under the hood. Dormant and calm, obviously wasn't the first impression of Firestorm's drag racing nature and appearance. Just from watching how unstable his movement can be, one could practically sense that he was just itching to burn rubber. "Oh yeah, Haiari, we're almost there."

Just that sentence, just that comment, galvanized Haiari. She felt a jolt of heat shred through her body, as she quickly threw her hands back onto Challenger's steering wheel, gripping it within her palms tightly. A devious smile curved and tugged at the edges of her lips, as she let raised her foot from accelerator. Her left foot slipped over to the clutch, depressing it as she twisted her palm around the stick shift of a four-speed transmission, yanking it from first to second gear. Within the blink of an eye the clutch was released as her right foot slammed on the accelerator again, as a sudden burst shoved the female against her seat. She was only having too much fun, and was especially happy when she heard Firestorm's engine pike up. She loved the sound of his strong V8 engine. It made her feel as if she was Queen of the road, even if just for a moment or so. "Ohhh Leooonn...Ariii...where are you....?" The frenzied words escaped Haiari's chapped lips, as an even more insane like smile grew on her face. She released her hand off the stick-shift, grabbing onto the steering wheel again and applying more pressure on the accelerator. The red dial on the speedometer had climbed, Fire's engine sputtering loudly as she began to see the world outside her blur by quicker and faster with each going heartbeat. Her breathing was hard, though she only just loved the feeling too much.

Firestorm couldn't help but laugh at the vibes he could obviously feel from Haiari, considering he was feeling them himself to. The predator was dieing to hunt, and oh his time would come soon. Sooner than one would expect. His heart had begun to escalate, expressing the power that was still dormant underneath his hood, expressing his need. Though of course, he knew that the race with Skystream and Volthaze wouldn't be a walk in the park. It's like trying to hunt two predators that are trying to hunt each other and you. A free for all drive was really all it was. Firestorm was thinking about it quite a bit and each second he thought about he got more and more anxious to just rush past the traffic. Quickly he could feel himself increase in speed again, as his wheels pulled him to the other lane, speeding by another car, any lights besides his own blurring by him quicker and quicker.

And it was exactly the same for Haiari. Her crimson eyes couldn't keep up with the many blurs and streaks of light that were viewable from her windows, as her foot lay on the pedal. It was taking almost all of her willpower to just stop herself from snapping Firestorm into the next gear. It was so tempting. It was just a small bit away. She wanted to lose herself. Just her and Firestorm. She wanted to feel free for the short time she could. Plain out, she just couldn't wait to find her opponents. Where were they anyways? Hell if she knew, it would've been unfortunate if they weren't there. The plans for the race...she remembered had been set a couple weeks back, maybe even months. "Son of a..." Haiari's foot nudged harder on the pedal, the speedometer hitching up as she was quickly thrown back into her seat again by another burst of speed. She took in a deep breath, as her foot ascended from the accelerator. She watched the red dial slowly descend, but it was no where near enough for her to clock down into a lower gear. Air rushed from her lungs out from her nostrils and mouth, as she closed her eyes. Opening them again as her breath now was relaxed, toned down and calm. "Fire, you said they were close by you liar..." The female hissed somewhat at the car, still having a tight hold on the top of the steering with curled hands. Haiari had gotten an amused chuckle as a response to her slightly ferocious outburst. "...What?" She was clearly confused at the motives that supported his laughter, only able to question what was traveling through his mind. A couple thoughts had spouted within her head as her mouth opened to speak. Firestorm was fairly quick to intrude on it, with one of his own heated comments.

"You know they're closer than you always expect. Take a look around." Fire's heat reached into Haiari's body, flowing around it once more as she viewed her surroundings. It took her quite a bit for her pupils to adjust to the darkness, though when the night kindly cleared up for her eyes, a pearlescent gold and white Audi S5 Coupé could be seen. The sleek exotic car traversed on a road that was elevated further than the one Fire was on, though it eventually had molded with the main highway. As the moonlight shone on the Audi's seemingly distance form, a small laminate of gold could be seen on the left door's windowpane. "See what I mean?" Firestorm's engine began to rev even louder, as he began to close the gap between him and the golden Audi S5 Cabriolet.

Haiari practically had her head over the steering wheel for the first couple moments of Fire's notice, squinting as the clear view of Volthaze was in sight. "Leon!" His name happily floated out from between her lips, as she went ahead and pushed her foot down even further. No attention was focused on the increasingly ascending dial, Fire's speed climbing the numbers one after the other, slow and steadily. Haiari's craving of speed showed as her index finger tapped feverishly on the shift stick, as she was on bare edges of snapping it right into the next gear and chasing after Leon. Though, the woman managed to resist, well knowing that if she didn't, the race would be short lived. She slipped her hand from the shifter to the wheel once more, curling her hand around it and tightening her grip on it. She brought her body back, head leaning against the crimson shaded fabric of the soft headrest. Her foot tapped the accelerator, keeping Fire well under control, speed wise. She tilted her steering wheel over to the left, Fire responding immediately as the car shifted into the parallel lane. It took Fire a moment to stabilize his chassis, as the rear portion of his body was caught in a slight fishtail. It was minor and small, only one with a good eye could tell. One with a good eye could also identify that the car itself was fairly unsteady. The movement gave away an aura of red, as one could only guess what the car had in store for the asphalt.

One could easily say different about Volthaze though. That car was like a sore thumb on the road, dragging and stealing the attention from any other vehicle that hung around. The pearlescent gold paint was fairly bright, even with the night blocking out any and most sources of light. European manufacturing was present, as the outlines of this exotic-like car were elegant, and smooth. The model was very different from the hardcore, raw look of the Challenger. Under his hood was a fairly quiet engine, purring softly as it traversed down the highway lane, keeping and going along with the flow of traffic, as if he had all the time in the world.

This was especially the same for his driver, Leon Kiefer. His tilted head was accompanied by shoulder length blonde hair, which was pressed against the black headrest of his seat. A rather long yawn escaped his mouth, half of it being smothered due to the palm of his right hand pushing up against his cheek. His left hand was right on the steering wheel. One handed driving was his thing, always. Whether it was on the street, a professional race taking place on a closed course, he never really found a motive to race with both hands. The only time he'd put two hands on the steering wheel was only during certain events... His ocean blue eyes centered upon the grey speedometer's hand, as it escalated up the numbers and then fall the instant he let his sneaker ease a centimeter off the accelerator. Leon's eyes etched over to the left, staring right into his rear view mirror. Even though it was just a small spec, he could easily tell... "That's Haiari right?" He muttered out somewhat dazed, left hand pushing the steering wheel gently over to the left, as he felt Volt's smooth transition into the other lane, pressing upon the pedal again to speed up Volt's wheels.

"Yup! Sure is!" The fairly energetic voice scattered into Leon's ears as Volthaze responded fluently to his controls. It was creepy in a way on how smooth he transferred into the parallel lane. It was as if a machine of some sort just dragged him into the lane. A fishtail on the car wasn't present either, and if there was, no one could notice. Not even the cold winds seemed to stop the car, as his design grazed through it cleanly and smoothly. "This is going to be fun fer sureeee!!" Volt had put emphasis on the last two words of his rather jumpy exclamation, pretty much chanting the pair words from the song. His rain of fun and happiness was quickly rained on by another stretched yawn from Leon. "...What? Got a problem with that song?"

"Dude. No. Shut up." Leon groaned afterwards and closed his eyes as he leaned his head back on the headrest, his hand falling onto the leathery material of the small storage compartment right besides the seat. Leon had cupped his chin with his hand, pushing it to the side just hard enough to send a hard chain of cracking around his neck, then going to straighten out his breezy shorts. "Save your energy for the race...That's when you'll need it." His vision floated past the golden shaded steering wheel, straight over to the side mirror again. The red Dodge Challenger was closing the distance between the two cars quickly, eventually being able to easily tell the lines and figure of the classic.

"Fine. Asshole." Volt spat at Leon, the gold and white steering wheel spun over to the left, the front wheels responding accordingly as they moved the Audi into the lane once more, as Leon saw the lights of a civilian car zoom by, his attention gearing away from the mirror to try and catch a glimpse of the car model. The thought processed in his mind for a second, but was quickly kicked out due to a loud engine rev. Leon's eyes locked their attention on the rear view mirror once again. He couldn't help but smirk at the sight of Haiari's car practically right behind him. He pressed a button right above the volume on the radio, a panel sliding down revealing a beautiful and crystal clear touch screen. The screen lit up, illuminating a light throughout Volt's interior

"Hey Volt, give Haiari a call." The screen suddenly changed, as the ringing of a phone confirmed that his call was being made. The call didn't take as long as expected to make, considering it didn't take a moment to hear Haiari's voice ringing in his head.

"Hey, woman. Stop tailgating me." Leon practically half laughed into the speaker, a hand wrapping around and tightening his seatbelt around his white and black button up shirt, head moving over to the side to make sure the material hadn't irritated the neck too bad.

"Well stop going so slow!" A smile smeared across the female's face, as she furthered Fire's rate of speed. There wasn't too much of a distance between Fire's and Volt's bumpers, as Haiari quickly eased off the pedal letting the Challenger pull back from the Audi, the gap opening as distance grew between the two cars. Her eyes stayed put right on the four circles that entangled and strung around each other, smiling even further as the lights from Fire bounced off the shiny silver Audi emblem, glistening and looking oh so clean in the light. Her hand slowly tilted the steering wheel right, as her foot fell on the pedal once more. Fire's engine revved even louder, as the car shook into the lane just right of the European manufactured car.

"Where the hell is Ari?" Leon's laid back tone scratched at the inside of Haiari's ears.

"Why are you asking me? You have his number!" Haiari practically hissed back, a rather harsh voice popping out of Volt's speakers.

"Calm down Aiai." Firestorm's fairly deep but still voice had cooled down Haiari's heated racing aura. Yes, he knew that she wanted to race Leon and Arikaru. Really, he did too, even though he didn't exactly sound it. Simply put, he was storing away all his energy for later. "Leon. Call him."

An aggravated sigh sounded from Fire's speakers, before Leon's obviously irritated statement filled the silence around Haiari. "Fine. I'll make the freakin' call."

Leon's finger began to tap the touch screen feverishly, the numbers flickering onto the glowing blue screen, as the blank line was soon filled with digit after digit. Another dial tone had rung within Audi's car, shredding the silence as Leon sat with an oh so annoyed face. An aggravated breath rushed out of his lips, a small smoke puff spreading into the air and slowly disappeared. "C'mon Ari... Pick up." At the rate Leon and Haiari were going, they were hoping that Arikaru was at least on the highway. Though, unfortunately for them, that wasn't exactly the case.

Arikaru Daiki's head lay rest on the lap of a female. His sleek black hair was spread out upon the navy shaded jeans, cinnamon brown eyes slightly flickering as they viewed the young night. He tilted his vision over, his auburn orbs being caught by the Nissan Emblem that sunk into the backside of his hand, the symbol reading out clearly even in the midst of the night. He moved his hand forward turning it to stroke Skystream's cheek. Her tranquil blue eyes gazed into his, a passionate, yet calm love filling the air around them. A solemn smile grew on Sky's face, navy blue hair cascading over sections of her face. At the sight of her smile he couldn't help grinning himself, rising to plant a kiss upon her freshly chapped lips. "You doin' okay sweetheart?" Ari brought his head off her lap, quietly leaning back against the bench.

"Of course hun. I'm fine." Sky's voice was like a gentle breeze, carrying her soft ghostlike words into Ari's ear. "Just...tonight."

"I know." Arikaru's hair brushed slightly along the winds, as his focus floated off to a nearby vending machine, light emitting from it as the shadows of the bathrooms were cast along the cement floor, only being able to see at the corner of his eyes. "..It's...our last. Isn't it?" Ari's voice had tinted bits of sorrow within the peaceful tone. His eyes, brown and dashed with small cinnamon shaded sparkles, looked forward to the parking lot before him. Without looking or anything of the sort, a hand straightened out his tank top, his colorless unbuttoned shirt getting whipped around by the wind.

"Most likely..." Sky's knees pressed together, arms crossing down her chest and stomach as her hands curled together right at her waistline. Her black zipped up jacket stretched as she leaned forward somewhat, and rested her head on Arikaru's shoulder. "...Then we can leave this entire thing behind." Skystream's eyes closed, as she scooted closer to Arikaru, giving Ari a quick kiss on the cheek, burying her head into his neck.

"You'll always be with me regardless...right sweetheart?" Arikaru looked over to Sky. He smiled as he saw her nod in response to his question. "Good..." He whispered quietly, his voice easily being taken away by another gust as his phone went off, a sound of electronic and techno music sounded. As Arikaru's hand dived into his pocket, taking hold of the phone and flipping it open as he slipped it next to his ear. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" Leon's voice lazily crawled through the phone. His voice seemed rather irritated, which wasn't too surprising.

"Rest stop...with Sky. You?" Arikaru spoke calmly.

"Well hurry and get your ass on the road. Haiari's prodding me about you."

"On it." Arikaru quickly closed his phone as his view connected with Sky. "You ready?"

"Always will be." Skystream gave Arikaru a kiss on the lips, pressing against him for a moment before pulling away slowly as she rose from the wooden bench, jeans cascading back over her ankles as she moved towards the middle of the parking lot, past the cars and stock vehicles that lay around her. A wind gushed past her, long black hair lashing as the wind streamed through it. She stepped from the grey cement, down onto the cold black asphalt, going over to the center of the parking lot, as the wind hummed and whispered a hymn, soothingly. She shifted her body to the side, and then turned her head to Ari. From underneath her black jacket, a small blue light bled through the fabric, leaking as it illuminated the night. She gazed at Arikaru, smiling, her form beginning to very well amend itself into something that of a normal person could not believe, even if they saw it with their own eyes.

Arikaru watched from a distance as Skystream's body began to, well; pretty much unfold on its own. Slits and cuts formed in her 'skin', rotating as they disconnected, shades of sable contaminating the formerly peachy shade of the skin, the hard sound of metal clanking and shifting back and forth, snapping into dissimilar positions and coiling outwards, shuffling into parts that were found present in a car itself. Even her zipped up jacket seemed to dislodge like pieces of a puzzle, machinery at work underneath alternating her body. Her neck unbolted, the plates pushing outward as her head began to slowly detach, descending into what was once her chest as everything seemed to be pushing and shoving it's way out, the metal material linking with one another, growing and allowing freedom for other parts and pieces to reveal themselves. Her legs began to disassemble, a wheel quickly revealing itself as it pieced together and slid to the ground. She leaned forward somewhat, back cracking open, as four disk like objects reeled out. These four like circles, were the four circles found on the back of a Nissan Skyline G-TR R34 V-Spec. An all wheel drive chassis unfolded out of her chest and stomach, breaking into place as all four rims, now covered by the black rubber coverings met the earth. Candy sable side skirts flipped down and covered the empty 112.2 inch wheelbase, trunk reeling into place, connecting together, the dim lights refracting off the legendary G-TR V-SPEC that read out in cerulean blue. Clicking and shuffling into position, the 2.8 liter RB26DETT Z2 turbo inline-6 engine swayed out from within the trunk and sliding to the front end of the chassis, hooking on tightly. The shock springs laced against the chassis as they rose to meet up with the rest of the body, the newly composed frame clinging on to one another. Precisely after the engine had settled into its home, a pair of specialized racing seats towed forward prior to a pair of normal seats, trailing out right behind the first two. All four locked in their respective positions, backrests and headrests piling upon one another, matte blue splashed on the sides of the seats.

It clicked in Ari's mind, as he saw the uprising of the seats, quickly rushing for them as he jumped onto the left seat. His timing was perfect, shoes meeting the bottom panels thrown under him. A seatbelt wrapped over the fabric that adorned his slender body and around his waist, overlapping the leather belt and clicking into its holster. Both eyes could see the pair of parallel doors clinging onto the side as they locked into place on either side of the black haired youth, snapping shut as the roof piece stranded together, the windows surrounding and encasing him within the small cabin. Sky's hood then locked into place, the sound of metal shifting only being so clear in the wind's whisper.

After the hood covered the engine, the grille fell forth in the shape of a rectangle right below the curving point of the hood. The front bumper pushed out, fastening itself with the Sky's front.

Arikaru paid no attention to the storage component that lifted up, the blue and silver lights giving life to the dashboard that opened into place. Numbers read out in a rough grey, though that wasn't the thing that had his auburn eyes. The speedometer came to life, a florescent blue needle floating over the neon silver digits that climbed and hung in the empty space surrounding the dials. It was only then when a small black sphere grew out of the speedometer, a magnificent silver glow burning and only being so bright in the dark. The metal stretched, two more pieces coming from the flanks of the small sphere. A ring grew, from the two pieces, connecting and fastened as the steering wheel proceeded on building itself, slow and steadily. The light was muffled within seconds, shining no more after the black material had held onto the sphere tightly.

Sky's transformation came about within a matter of seconds, human to vehicle, ready to serve her driver for the chase that was soon to commence. Keys slipped out of Ari's hand, as he wedged the small edge into the key port, twisting just enough to listen to the twin turbo churn out a rather pleasant sound. "You ready for this?" Arikaru huffed holding of the steering wheel ramming his left foot down on the clutch, and clicking Sky into first gear, releasing from the clutch as he pushed down on the accelerator. The engine's resonances piled up, the crystal sound of the Tuner engine filling and suffocating the silence around it, exhaust pipe releasing the heated fumes as Sky was thrown into a spin. The Skyline's wheels ripped a fresh skid line into the black ground, smoke lifting as it was quickly blown away by the screech of the tires, swinging the tail into line. Within seconds Sky had left her previous stand point, vivid xenon headlights leading the way into the blurry world before them. At the sight of the ramp, Arikaru prepared both hands for the sharp turn, quickly spinning the wheel right. On a dime, Sky responded fluently, entering the turn as she took the curve closely, being about an inch away from the wall. She exited the ramp just as elegantly as she entered it, flowing with the wind itself as they got onto the highway, Arikaru shifting feverishly. In his rear view mirror, he could see them. Leon and Haiari were closing the open distance that lay between them and Ari.

Arikaru simply smiled, as he could see Firestorm flash his headlights behind Skystream as he got closer and closer. "...Let's do it."

The three street racers locked their feet on the accelerator, shifting as necessary, the speed becoming only so much. The engines screamed as they filled the highway with the passion that they all had, the thing that would keep them going throughout the long distances, the thing that would keep their hearts beating and alive.

Off into the night they went, rushing by the ongoing flow of life and essence itself, being captured in their own world, quickly disappearing into the hours of darkness, and the world that awaited them.