DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HOTWHEELS!
Kurt's comment seemed to stun everyone in the room slightly. It did seem rather suspicious at this recent turn of events for Dr. Tezla. Larissa had no former knowledge of the alleged doctor so even she was somewhat uneasy to help him. The older Wylde brother was quite keen on keeping to his hesitation, which only added to the recent built up tension for both the Teku and Metal Maniacs. As the minutes passed, Taro only ever moved to face the group of people seated around the table, while Larissa resumed her usual pacing, occasionally pausing to say something, and then promptly shutting her mouth against it.
Vert listened and waited for someone to make a move or even breathe. No one did, and the anxiety even began to show in his usually carefree eyes. Sighing in frustration to himself, the blonde ran a hand through his hair roughly before glancing up at Larissa who had stopped short of his seat to the right. The two racers shared a longer glance to each other, almost as if they were trying to read each one's thoughts. Larissa was the first to break the gaze and her eyes fell upon Markie seated across the table. His left eyebrow raised in confusion to her as she scowled, but she shook her head, dismissing any questions immediately.
"Just what exactly are these drones?" she voiced indirectly, waiting for anyone to answer.
"Well, I guess you could call 'em killer robots bent on taking over the world," Vert offered, shifting in his seat more. "They're led by Gelorum, this lady who really has a thing against Tezla and me, you could say."
"Why you?"
"Um, before all this, there was the world race. I got the Wheel of Power at the end and Gelorum was set on getting it, so she nearly killed me and several others as we raced to put it back in Highway 35…" the 18 yr. old surfer replied.
The news certainly shed a new light for Larissa to follow as she pursued the confounding goal ahead. Nodding briefly, she went back to pacing and stopped in front of the window, her front side bathed in the golden glow of the much larger ring.
"So if what Dr. Tezla is saying happens to be true, then we have a major issue before us, don't we?" she inquired, head tilted over her shoulder.
Several confirmations could be heard from the assortment of drivers around Larissa and this only managed to make a new knot form in her stomach. The more the option was discussed, the less chance they all had to opt out of supposedly going up against the drones and Gelorum in the race of a lifetime and trying to survive the entire time. The more thought she put into it, the less Larissa liked the odds they all possessed.
"The drones have already accessed several racing realms. Dr. Tezla believes that with each new realm, they become more powerful," Gig reported.
"What ever is at the end of the racing realms must be even more powerful…" Kadeem whispered.
"Now more than ever, the best drivers are needed-
Suddenly, a high pitched siren began to sing its ghastly wails, the sound amplified ten fold by the cavernous garage. A loud rumble could be heard just beneath the opposite sound. No one heard Larissa gasp at the sight of the large ring beginning to rotate in opposite directions, the glow even brighter than before.
"It's moving," Taro said aloud when the sounds lessened.
"A new realm is about to open…" Lani uttered, standing near the Metal Maniac.
"Alright! C'mon, lets go!" Wylde shouted, a grin growing more and more as he leapt up from this chair.
As the others began to scramble down to the garage, Vert made his way over to Lani and placed a hand on her shoulder, "We need Nitrox."
The alarm was beginning to grate on Larissa's nerves as she rolled underneath her car to install two canisters of fresh Nitrox and make sure they would be attached properly to the tank beneath. With a few more twists of the wrench, the canisters were secure in a matter of minutes and the neutral driver began to dust her self off.
"What exactly does this Nitrox 2 do, Vert?" she asked, concern staining the words.
"Oh you'll see," Vert chuckled, popping the door on the Deora 2 and climbing in.
"There's that knot again…" she sighed, whilst getting into her vehicle as well.
"The racing realm is open!" Gig exclaimed to the waiting drivers.
Soon, throaty engines rumbled to life, the sound almost as deafening as the sirens. Flames spewed forth from several of the Metal Maniacs cars while whooping stereos blasted music from the Teku. Each team was psyched up and ready to rumble with the drones. Putting the petal to the metal, Kadeem was the first to shoot out of the ramp's accelerator. The sudden burst in speed was enough to ram his head against the headrest as he built up momentum, heading directly for the luminescent portal levitating within the Wheel.
"You must be going 300 mph when you reach the wheel!" Kadeem declared to the rest of the drivers.
Larissa could feel the pull of gravity on her body as she was pressed back into her seat, but never before had she felt so alive at a speed like this. Already, her speedometer read 190 and was still climbing. At this rate, the instrument may was well break from the strain. A smile of pure thrill burst forth as she laughed out loud, rounding another bend and then coming down a loop.
"This is going to be insane," she verbalized as her car phased out of sight into the portal.
Meanwhile, in the upper observatory, Lani sat back in a seat, eyes dancing across the monitors as one by one, the cars disappeared in a flash of light. Her body heaved a sigh as she caught a glimpse of an overhead timer that had begun to tick away as soon as the first driver entered the realm.
"This isn't right," she contemplated. "We should have told them. Everthing…"
