Quick Author's note. No you are not seeing double. Shadow convinced me to stop being a leech and get my own account. So from now on I'll be updating here. And I've also edited the first chapter so the tenses should all be in agreement. I do have a slight problem with that. :P

Chapter 1 In which we meet Lia.

Ophilea Marie Clancy, age 22. So says my headshot that my mother insisted I take. Her hope for me was that I'd be an actress like her. Ha ha, fat chance. Too many times I've overheard "she's too short" or "too many freckles" or my personal favorite "not pretty enough." Jokes on them though, I still work in movies and TV, just not front and center.
I work with my dad most of the time. My dad, Daniel, is a special effects engineer. Those awesome explosions in that action movie from last week? My dad's handiwork. Those awesome vehicles in that futuristic thriller from last summer? Fabricated with my dad's design. That cool animatronic dragon in that fantasy movie a few years ago? Dad's idea. Sometimes I watch Mythbusters with my dad and realize he is a scary hybrid of Jamie and Adam. Then I try imagining a walrus mustache on my dad's clean shaven upper lip and his trademark backwards baseball cap replaced with a beret. It would be patently ridiculous.

For some parents, watching their kids purposely crash cars or do crazy high speed stunts would scare them shitless. Not my dad. No, he hits the button for the explosions to go off in front of me as I drive the stunt car. I swear sometimes I can hear him laugh manically. I do other stunts in the background, like falling off buildings and going through windows. My favorite is getting blown up; I get to wear wires and go flying. It's actually a lot of fun. Most of the time people call me for stunt driving. During the filming season, my dad and I work together on a spy show. I get to drive this pretty blue Hyundai Genesis Coupe and dad gets to make the explosions for the show. They happen pretty often as there is always some bomb that gets made to blow up or scare the bad guys. I do believe the munitions expert character on the show is referred to as the "trigger happy ex-girlfriend" and I get to drive her car.

That show has wrapped for the season, however, and that's why I am here today, at an empty back lot in Anaheim instead of in Miami. Today is simply for me to get a feel for the car I'd be driving on location next week. I like to put my cars through a few basic maneuvers so I know how fast it reacts and how fast it can go. Just a few simple things like drifts, turn arounds, sharp turns, backwards driving at high speeds, you know, basic stuff.
I pull up to see my dad there with a few others. When they move, I spot the car they want me to drive and my stomach does a little flip flop. A Telsa Roadster. White body, red stripe that goes from the left side of the hood all the way to the left side of the rear fender via the roof and the word TESLA written on its side in bright green letters. Sweet mama! Lord only knows what they want that car for in a post-apocalyptic action movie but I wasn't about to ask any questions. I got out of my tiny little Ford Fiesta and head over. Dad spots the giant grin on my face as walk up. He knows I like fast cars. This baby was a dream. 0-60 in 3.9 seconds? Yes please. There was a reason I drove a little Fiesta, I had a tendency to lead foot it.

After I stopped drooling over the car, I look at the people who were gathered there. My dad I had seen, but then I spot my brother Troi. Troilus Lysander Clancy. Yes, you read that right. Our mother had a penchant for Drama. Well that and there was some stupid family tradition of naming us kids after Shakespearean characters. She could have picked something more mundane, but our mother is anything but. She said it was in hopes that would have such big personalities as the "Bard" like to write. Of course, she picked names from tragedies, lord knows why. My namesake went mad and drowned and Troi? Let's just say main characters never have it easy.

Troi and I are like night and day, which considering we're siblings is very strange. He is tall, dark haired and tan; very action hero. He took after mom in the looks department. Me? I'm short, covered in freckles and had a crazy head of hair that couldn't make up its mind on whether it wanted to be red or blonde. I got stuck with what dad called strawberry blonde and I called insanity. I wouldn't dye it though, that was just too much hassle to maintain.

"Why is Troi here?" I ask my dad as I walk up.

"For the bike," he says, motioning to the Kawasaki they had parked opposite the Tesla. It was a simple enough answer for me. What I did with cars, Troi did with motorcycles. And in his spare time he was a stunt coordinator and a fight choreographer. When asked why he had so many titles, he said he just liked to dabble. The jerk. Truth was, dad used to take him on location a lot and he started learning early on. Which also meant he got his SAG medallions early too so he could actually start working. You can't work without those medals. It was all about networking in this business.

I look over at Troi as he talks with some men in suits. Some had to be from the studio, others had to be from Tesla. No way would they just loan out such an expensive piece of machinery without someone to watch their investment. And it was a good investment. Telsa would get massive exposure from this movie and I'd make it look amazing. And that's not just me bragging.

One of the suits broke off from the pack and walks over to me, pulling a stack of papers from his case. I sigh. More paperwork. The unglamorous side of the job. I sign some NDA (non-disclosure agreement) forms and insurance paperwork, liability forms that sort of thing. When that was done, the suit held out the key.

"Be careful with it, this is the show car." Oh, super. The show car. The one you'd see on all the posters and all the slow motion glamour shots. That explained why Telsa was here a bit more. This was the only car they had and Telsa wanted to know if this would be worth giving them a few cars and chassis they could beat the crap out of for stunts. This car would be kept in pristine condition while they let me destroy countless others. I really was going to be regulated to basic maneuvers. Damn.

"Extra careful I promise." Dad slides an arm around my shoulder and hugs me, planting a kiss on the top of my head. I roll my eyes at him but it is his way of wishing me luck.

"Here Lia, brought you a helmet." For the basic stuff I was going to do, I didn't need a helmet, but after what happened a year ago…

The helmet was the only reason I was still alive. It was a plain white helmet except for the blue sea horse on the back, embellished with a few wave patterns. I smile. Dad knew I loved sea horses.

Troi walks over as I slide it on over my head, helmet and riding jacket in his hands. He smacks his hand on the top of my helmet and I stick my tongue out at him. He just slams my visor shut and smiles in response.

"Ready little brat? These studio suits want to see what we can do as a team." His grin is unmistakable. He wants to show off. Too bad I was being restricted.

"Well, I would, Troi, but they gave me the show car."

"Idiots. The lot of them. Ah well, back to basics it is. Oh, and don't worry, that little voice in your ear is just me. Mic in your helmet." He slides his helmet on and snaps the chin strap. Safety first was our family motto. A well needed one with the stuff we did for a living. "So, drifts, turn arounds and full reverse driving?"

I nod at him as I head to the car. The funny thing about Teslas is that they only have one speed. Fast. Instead of a gear shift or any type of manual control, it has buttons. Only one drive gear. The trick today is going to see how long it takes the signal to reach the computer when I go from drive to reverse and vice-versa. As for drifts? I thank the car gods it has a hand break and rear wheel drive. Without that, it would be very interesting. And sucky. Really sucky. I turn the car over and marvel at how quite it is. Troi pulls up next to me and revs his engine.

"You realize I would smoke you? Right?" I say into my mic. He laughs and shakes his head as I grip the steering wheel. There's a split second where I hesitate putting my foot on the gas, where I hesitate driving at all. The therapist said that was normal, I just had to take it slow. Taking it slow in a fast car? Kind of hard. I look over at Troi and he notices I'm hesitating.

"You do realize you're in a heavy car and I'm on the bike right? Your ass is so grass, brat. Bet you our next pub crawl tab I win." That's the swift kick in the ass I needed and he knows it.

"Oh you are so on." We do a simultaneous count down and when we get to one I slide my foot from brake to gas and the car flies. All that power at my back pushing me forward is a huge thrill and the adrenaline starts pumping through my veins. The 3.9 seconds it takes to get up to 60 has come and gone in a blink of an eye and now I'm just pushing the car flat out. I pull ahead of him because I don't have to worry about shifting gears, I just drive. 70. 80. 90. 100. Troi has pulled ahead of me at this point and I can't push the pedal down any farther. His not-so-little Kawasaki Ninja ZX 10R ABS is lighter; it doesn't have a crap ton of lithium ion batteries in its ass weighing it down. I was sure I had enough speed on him though. Damn, the pub crawl was on me then. Troi wasn't the type to pull his punches when it came to his little sister.

I hit 120 just as Troi hits the designated finish line and I let my foot of the gas. I slow down a little, tapping the break lightly to slow down more.

"Time to find out what this baby can do."

"Be careful, we don't need you buying a busted $100k+ car." That was my brother, hiding his worry with a dig at my driving. I slow it down and crank the hand break spinning the steering wheel. The car whips around as I drop the hand break. I'd have to react fast to keep up with this thing. I put it in reverse and drive backwards until I pull up next to Troi. I give him a little wave before flooring it again. I put this car through its paces; sharpest turns I think I can make followed by drifts and a few more turn arounds and reversing. I turn that car sideways with the drifting, I have a funny feeling about this car. Its ride is too smooth, it doesn't feel heavy, it doesn't feel like there is 6,000 lithium ion batteries when I crank the wheel all the way to the left or right. There is no oversteer, and just a small amount of understeer which I can easily compensate for. I've read it feels a little center heavy, like there was a giant beer belly in the middle of a dainty body. This car did not move like there is a belly full of beer. It moves like a Lotus Elise, which, I guess isn't surprising since Lotus let Telsa use their chassis. But it corners better, far better than I had thought it possible. I would have suspected they had just slapped a Telsa paint job on an Elise but the car was way too damn quiet. I've done my research on this car and it was not behaving at all like everyone was saying it would. I'd driven an Elise before, and this drove like an Elise. Which instantly was telling me something was off.

"Hey, wanna do a Driving Miss Daisy or a Howdy Doody? I'm getting bored and they wanted to see team work." Troi interrupts my train of thought and any sort of epiphany I was about to have evaporates.

"Either of those is too dangerous for a show car and you know it." Either one of those had the potential to cause both of us to crash, though we had the Howdy Doody down to a T. And that would be something to really test the cars abilities out on because timing was literally everything. And knowing my brother, he won't take no for an answer.

"Aw c'mon, we've done the Howdy Doody how many times? Just throw that bad boy in reverse and let's show them what team work is. Or are you chicken?"

"I need to be careful with this car."

"Bok…bok…Bokaw!"

"Ass."

"No, I believe that was a chicken. Is all that college not sinking in little sis?"

"Fine, jerk. Let's do this." I spin the car around and throw it in reverse, keeping it at around 65 miles an hour. He drives his bike straight at me keeping about a foot between my front bumper and his front tire. This is where it gets tricky and I am super glad we have mics. Instead of giving me a signal that he was going to hit his front tire breaks, he simply tells me. After that, it's my turn.

He hits his breaks and pops a wheelie onto his front tire and I wait a few seconds while he still skids forward on momentum before pulling my hand break and cranking to the left. I swing the car around to his right side and he drops his back wheel and pulls forward a bit as I crank the hand break again, spinning around behind him to come back around to his left side. The whole thing goes off without a hitch and the ride is smooth beyond belief. It's absolutely perfect. Although, when we stop, you wouldn't think so by the way the suits are reacting.

"What the hell was that? We said be careful with the car not almost get into an accident!" As soon as I get out of the car, they let me have it. I am so going to kick his ass for this later.

"Hey, you wanted to see our teamwork, well voila! Perfect example. Both of us are highly trained professionals and trust me, that is the only type of person you want behind the wheel of that car." I rip my helmet off, annoyed at both my brother, who got me into this mess, and the nameless man in a suit who's getting in my face.

"Lady, I don't know who you think you are, but that stunt was not part of the agreement. You were simply supposed test drive the car."

"Hey!" Troi cut in between the two of us and pokes the guy in the chest, making him back up a step. I didn't even see him get off his bike. He's a good head taller than the suit and that gives the guy pause. "That stunt was perfectly safe and made to look dangerous. It was a very basic maneuver meant to show timing and teamwork. So judging by your over reaction, I'd say it worked perfectly." God, he is such a liar. But he is also the expert here so there really isn't any room for the suit to argue. "Now if you would not get in my sisters face like that again, ever, I think we can make a damn movie."

The man in the suit straightens his tie and clears his throat as he backs up some more. "Very well, I shall talk with my colleagues and we will contact you tomorrow." With that he steps back to the rest of the group and leaves my brother and I by ourselves. That's when I elbow him in the side and give him a good hard glare.

"What? You had fun, admit it. Now suck it up, you've got beer to buy me." I really do hate my brother sometimes but he is handy. I just sigh and shake my head as I head back to my little Fiesta, my wallet crying at the injustice of it all.