Chapter 4: Showdown! (part 2)

The date was December tenth. The time was eight o'clock in the evening. The place was the Coast Road, named so because it wound along a cliff near the sea. And now, the normally tranquil spot was going to be disrupted. Or perhaps it was a bit more accurate to say that it was in the process of being disrupted.

One of the small parking lots, which normally should have been abandoned this late at night, was filled with people. The vast majority of them were spectators, but there was a group of racers. They called themselves the Teku, a team of tech-savvy, techno loving teens and young adults. The biggest music junkie of them all, Shirako Takamoto, was busy pumping music into the air from the speaker set in the trunk of his car, Bassline. Karma was nearby, idly staring down at the waves below. The other three, Kurt Wylde, Vert Wheeler, and the leader of the group Nolo Pasero, were hanging out near where their cars were parked.

They were waiting for their rivals to arrive. So far, only one Metal Maniac - their mechanic Monkey - had shown up, although he swore up and down that Tork and Taro were on their way. Pork Chop was out of town for a few months dealing with family matters, and given how Wylde had almost sent Kurt to the hospital the last time he had shown up to a race against the Teku, the Metal Maniacs had elected to keep their hot-headed teammate in the dark regarding the race.

Not that that mattered, as it turned out. Rumors always spread around like wildfire when it came to races, and Wylde had found out about the events of that night. Currently, he was speeding towards the gathering at a rather furious pace, which matched his black mood almost perfectly.

The gathering was getting antsy - the race was supposed to have started ten minutes ago - and given all the spare time they had on their hands, Nolo and Vert decided to fill it with yet another argument. The two did seem to butt heads a lot, and this time was no different.

"I know the Coast Road better than anybody, Nolo," Vert said, trying to keep his voice neutral. Nolo merely laughed at the surfer's statement, which didn't do anything to help the blonde's mood. "Dude, I used to come out here surfing before I could drive."

"Whatever, man," Nolo replied. "I was driving before I could drive."

Kurt winced as he noticed Vert scowl, anticipating that things were about to go downhill and fast.

"What does that even mean?" Vert demanded, causing Nolo to allow a scowl of his own to flit across his face.

"Remember who's the Teku leader." The Latino snapped, irritated. A few of the people gathered nearby looked over in their direction before going back to their own conversations. Nolo turned back to Vert, and lowered his voice a little, although he didn't lose any of the irritation and anger.

"This is my race, Vert." he hissed. "Stay outta it." And with that, the Latino stalked off towards his car, Synkro. Vert watched him go, an angry frown etched on his face.

"He's only the leader because of his brother." The surfer grumbled before storming off in the opposite direction. After leading his own team in the World Race, he was still having a hard time taking orders from someone a few months younger than he was. Kurt watched him go.

"Hey, it's Nolo's call who races." He called. Unlike Vert, Kurt had no problems taking orders from the young Latino. Sure, Nolo made mistakes, but what leader didn't?

"Hey." Both Kurt and Nolo glanced over to the road, just in time to see Taro Kitano pull himself out of his Roadrunner. Judging from the look on the Asian American Maniac's face, he had witnessed the whole argument.

"Are you Teku here to race, or to fight?" He questioned. Nolo rolled his eyes at Taro's typical bluntness, but privately he was thankful that it had been Taro and not, say, Wylde, who had witnessed that exchange. Sure, Taro did subscribe to the whole the Teku and the Metal Maniacs are bitter rivals thing, but he didn't get as worked up about it as some people did. In fact, he was downright courteous, if a bit cold and distant, to the people that were supposed to be his rivals.

Before Nolo could respond, however, another car pulled up and its driver got out. It was Tork Maddox, a burly African American that looked as if he could easily bench press three hundred pounds, and the leader of the Metal Maniacs. Nolo did not hesitate in his actions and pinned the man with a ferocious glare. Tork likewise responded in kind, though his didn't hold quite as much malice as Nolo's did. For a tense moment, the two remained that way before they abruptly broke off eye contact. Returning to their cars, the racers edged onto the road and up to the makeshift starting line.

Monkey busied himself carrying a portable starting light to the center of the road when all of a sudden a car came tearing out of nowhere. It zoomed right past him, just barely missing running over his toes, before coming to a screeching halt between Synkro and Hollowback.

"Why didn't you tell me we were taking on the Teku?" Wylde demanded angrily, glaring at his leader. Tork rolled his eyes and shook his head. The man had been hoping that the youngest, and most temperamental, of his teammates, wouldn't show up tonight, but apparently he had found out about the race. It looked like he had no choice but to play the leader card.

"Me against Nolo." He said decisively. "That's how we're having it." And with that, he made the executive decision to move the starting line about ten feet down the road. Shifting gears, he moved past Spine Buster before Wylde could argue back. For once Nolo followed his lead without questioning it, glad for an excuse to get away from the Maniac of all Maniacs, as Shirako liked to call him in private.

"I want him, Tork, I want them all, you knew that from the start!" Wylde yelled angrily, a nasty scowl on his face. The drivers ignored them, though Kurt let himself wince hearing the raw fury in his brother's voice. Nolo and Tork edged their cars up a little, trying to gain even a fraction of an inch before the real race started. Both the Latino and the African American glared at each other once more, before focusing completely on the road. Well, at least Tork was focusing on the road. Nolo himself was thinking about another race, one that had happened about two years ago.

He had been sitting in the passenger seat of Synkro, a few months after his sixteenth birthday. The Latino had just started driving in street races with the Teku. But Nolo himself had not been the leader. No, back then his older brother Tone was.

"You're trying to take my place?" Tone asked as he waited for the light to change. Beside him, Nolo nodded.

"I know I can beat Tork." He replied confidently. His older brother, however, merely laughed. Here was his little brother, who had just turned sixteen a little while ago, and who had just started street racing; and yet he fully believed that he was more than capable of taking down one of the best racers in the city who had more experience than Nolo had.

"Yes, and I'm sure Talia is just as capable of beating Tork. Maybe I should call her up and have her race." Tone replied teasingly.

"Talia doesn't race." Nolo argued. "Besides, she's still recovering from being run over by that drunk trucker. And aside from that, she hates both of us. Why on earth would she do anything to help the two of us out?"

Tone glanced down at the steering wheel, lost in thought and regret. Realizing what he had said, Nolo quickly scrambled for a way to regain the lost cheerfulness.

"And besides." He added. "I don't think Tork races girls. He's never raced Karma before."

Tone smiled, and let out some sort of weak chuckle. It was refreshing how naive his little brother could be when it came to street racing, even if it appeared that he was trying to direct the conversation away from their estranged younger sister.

"C'mon, Tone." Nolo pleaded. "Let me race him."

"You want to be the leader now, lil' bro?" Tone asked while playfully punching Nolo on the shoulder.

Yes, Nolo had wanted to race so badly. But Tone had said no, and then he had died in a crash. Now, it was Nolo's turn to race Tork, and his chance to get revenge for his brother's death. Why wouldn't he want revenge? The way he saw it, the justice system failed to properly deal with Tone's death, so now it fell to Nolo to make sure the man that had murdered him suffered.

Monkey had moved his light over to the new starting line and was busy trying to turn it on. Shirako had wandered over with a remote, a screwdriver held loosely in his hands. The two mechanics were perhaps the most civil to each other out of all the members of the team; oftentimes since they were forced to work together to make sure the races ran smoothly. Monkey was getting a bit frustrated when the machine refused to light up and angrily kicked it. The percussive maintenance seemed to do the trick, and a red column of light filled the sky.

"This is Monkey." He said into a cell phone. "Is the road clear yet?" Behind him, Tork and Nolo revved their engines; impatient to get on with the race. "These guys aren't going to wait much longer." Both racers were tempted to just split right then and there. But finally, the jumpy ginger heard the magic words.

"All clear!"

Shirako was close enough to hear those words, and with a grin, he pressed the single button on the remote control. Moments later the light turned green. Both of the racers shifted gears and sped forward, Tork pulling just ahead of Nolo. The pair sped by Monkey, missing him only by a few inches. Then they were gone, rapidly receding into the night.

"Here they come!" Monkey reported as he began lugging his starting light off the road. Behind him, Wylde was steadily becoming more and more fed up with the night's proceedings, and though his brother was a tempting target the desire to race outweighed the desire to beat Kurt up.

"I'm going to show you what Wylde is all about." He snapped before shooting off after the others.

"Wylde!" Mentally cursing his teammate's foolishness Taro climbed back into his car and sped off after him, Monkey and the Teku not far behind.

Reviews, follows, and favorites are appreciated!