A Different Race
Chapter 12
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
It was only when he was alone in the allotted room by Toretto's headquarters that Brian allowed himself to kick the wall in grief. He crouched by it when that failed to let out his sorrow and grabbed his head in order to stop any embarrassing emotional outbursts.
The sad thing was that he knew he deserved every single one of his teammates' deaths or if he was lucky...their injuries. He had brought them here, blinded himself to Owen's actions for so long, and then had the gall to turn against said man while they were in the middle of a run. Every single thing Owen had taught him had been wasted here.
Had they died painlessly? No...possibly not. Not if Owen ordered the deaths. He had thought that, maybe, because they had been working so long with Vegh and Klaus and Jah...that they would vouch for at least Kumiko. Now, Brian realized the wrong of his actions. Being too lenient, to accepting, too naive had been his downfall.
The good thing here was that Owen had left him alive. For what purpose, he couldn't even begin to imagine but revenge was only a dish best served cold. He would do this carefully.
The Torettos and their highly efficient team were the only ones who could take Owen down. They had teamwork and strong familiar ties. Brian had resources to help them and if that darned clock on the stand was correct, he only had one hour of full prepping before the entire team mobilized after Owen.
Licking wounds was a thing Brian didn't normally do due to his team's quick and evasive strategies that didn't let enemies take advantage of them. Right now, he had a mission and he was going to see it succeed even if it cost him his life.
He easily evaded attention and left the compound without anybody knowing or discovering his actions. Taking the nearest vehicle- Roman's of course- Brian raced to where the trailers had last been seen and where he was more than sure that his teammates had died. The trucks were useless here but not what was in them...besides, he wanted to see...he wanted to see them one last time and perhaps bury them where they would have wished.
They'd all lived and died young which was not a small comfort to Brian who had expected to have his friends at least until they all had some sort of success in earning an honest and good life by right means as they all promised to each other. Lily had wanted to open her own chain of small markets to provide for the poor. Jake and Zane; the lazy bums just wanted to open a garage that provided everything from hydraulics and the newest and freshest coat of paint to custom orders and system programming.
Even more surprising, Kumiko wanted to be a doctor or even an artist. Seeing her, no one would guess that the tough as nails girl that went head to head with the Tokyo Drift King on good days would want that sort of future. It was a pretty bitter ending for Brian today.
Brian was taken by surprise when the phone rang abruptly from the passenger seat where he had thrown it alongside the keys to the trucks' cargo hold. Not sure whether he even wanted to speak to someone, Brian let the ring fade into nothingness and once again focused on the street before him. It probably wasn't even important...
His attention was wrenched away from the street again when the phone rang for the second time. This time, he picked up the cell and peered at the entry call. He blinked twice to make sure he was reading correctly and when he assumed he was, he frowned at the name he saw.
Samoan Thor.
'Really, what kind of name was that?' He wondered, puzzled beyond comprehension as to what had prompted someone to call themselves like that. A flash of irritation crossed as he imagined Kumiko or Jake behind the-
If it had been them, then this call meant that one of them was alive and hopefully calling him to tell him that! If so, Brian could easily put Owen behind bars again with no repercussions. And he could also, gladly, go after Vegh, Klaus and Jah. But...
What if this was just wishful thinking and this Samoan Thor actually meant one of Owen's? If Kumiko and Jake had been behind this, they had not yet known of the real nature of those they worked alongside...thus leading Brian back into their hands quite easily. Brian didn't want to go back to life as it had been shortly after he woke up. It had been so very bland and meaningless.
Owen had been the center of existence because up to that time, Brian had only known Owen and that was it. Owen was the one who thought him to drive a car again, the one who thought him to manage money and learn to plan, visualize and expand upon gained knowledge. If it hadn't been for Owen, and if he had been let out of the hospital, Brian would be homeless and jobless and possibly even dead.
After all, what was the possibility that the DEA would have actually found him with him lying on the streets and faceless as ever?
As he thought, the call disconnected and Brian became alarmed when, immediately after it faded, it rang again. No doubt, this time, even the ringtone carried a sense of urgency to it that made his blood run cold. Without anymore reservations, consequences be damned, Brian opened the phone and brought it to his ear, ready to listen but stay quiet in case this was a trap.
"O'Connor."
Brian choked on amusement of the hilarity of the situation. The tense energy he had previously faded away as Hobbs' voice filtered through the phone. Silently chuckling, he hummed to show he was listening. Even so, Hobbs stopped and seconds later, with a knowing tone, asked, "They changed the name, didn't they?"
He couldn't help it. Brian broke out in wild laughter, almost crashing into the car next to him as he did. "I'm sorry- it's just- haha!"
"Yes, yes but I want to know something O'Connor. Are you aware that we have one last thing we need to deal with? Why in the world did you decide to leave the base? Not only do I have a suicidal amnesiac, but I also have three murder rampages served up and ready."
"That bad, huh?" Brian wondered quietly, questioning himself more so than Hobbs, "I know what's at stake here. With Riley gone, you have someone who knows what vehicles, tricks, and weaponry you have...I'm willing to bet she's even told Owen about how every member of Toretto's team sleeps like and what they eat. I cannot let Owen go and neither can you. Toretto won't leave and I can't. So you don't get scared of me leaving and them abandoning you- my question is, are you aware of who you're facing?"
"I'm not an idiot, O'Connor. I've been tracking Shaw and through him, you, for a very long time. Those agents you've killed are under the rug, I'll admit, but only because they turned on their jobs. But I won't make an exception for you if you decide you aren't part of the team. I know how Shaw works and I know we're gonna cry a river but you gotta put on your fucking panties and face this like a man."
"I am not going to leave you guys hanging." Brian assured, smiling at the bluntness that was Hobbs. Really, you couldn't get much better than having a casual conversation with a man like Hobbs. "Despite everything, I'm sure I'm not that kind of guy...and besides, do you even know where Owen is heading?"
Strange that Hobbs would question his desire to put down Owen. Did he think Brian had been crying that metaphorical river over his teammates? Brian missed them, but the mission always came first. Always. Even Brian could accept this part of Owen's teachings.
Even stranger was that Hobbs hadn't noticed the disabled tracker on the device he'd given to Owen. Why, if it hadn't been for his own sneakiness, Brian would ha never even noticed at first glance. Hobbs seemed to have realized it now, for he cursed lowly and stayed silent. Brian smiled, knowing now that even if he wanted to, Hobbs couldn't call him back.
"Regardless of it, Owen isn't everything, Hobbs." Brian commented dryly, running distracted eyes over the sign signaling entry to London.
"Oh, I know that, O'Connor." Hobbs declared and boy did that seem like a promise!
"And suicidal is not the word I would use to describe me, Thor."
With that, Brian closed the phone with an audible snap and threw it over his backseat so that he wouldn't be tempted to grab it if Hobbs dared call him back. Or if anyone else did. He needed some time alone...some time to plan so that he could go back and help within the hour. Even speeding, it would take the minimum of two hours to go back to base.
Busy, busy, busy.
Hobbs sighed, glancing over to Mia Toretto, "He's fine."
She smiled in thanks and patted her brother's tense arm as if it would help the other breathe easier or something. "Then he'll come back."
The words were like a spell and an order at the same time, prompting the others to slide off their cars and prepare even faster for the mission. It was astounding to see this close-knit family trust on someone they knew almost nothing about.
Still, it was obvious O'Connor changed a lot. Before he had taken this mission, he had researched the man and he'd come to the conclusion that had Hobbs known about him earlier, he would have at least considered him for a post in his team. Remarkable scores hid behind a lack of correct behavior and boredom. That was the kind of character Hobbs searched for in an agent which unfortunately was lost behind a shady amnesiac who knew squat about his real family.
Even more unfortunate, O'Connor might even be forever lost due to the new tragedy that claimed his own teammates. His was the moment that would make Brian O'Connor, or break him. Hobbs wasn't sure what was better even if it should have been obvious.
Time would tell, unfortunately.
The first glance at the bullet-ridden trucks had Brian at the offensive immediately. Although he knew Vegh and Klaus had long left, he still itched for a measure of security like a gun or even better, a good vest of Kevlar.
There was the smell of burnt tire where Klaus or even Vegh hadn't lingered and instantly left the scene. He had to commend them on actually waiting for Lily and Kumiko to park in an abandoned area where no souls trekked the area. Two of the windows of one truck were shattered, the other one without the side mirrors and a working tire. Both trailers had been forcibly opened where Vegh had probably wished to steal any relevant data.
Not that she'd find any. He'd been really cautious about that kind of stuff where it concerned Owen; apparently it had paid off. He skipped the trailer with the less damage and immediately boarded the one that looked as if a tornado and a hurricane had stuck it.
Being that the bodies were relatively fresh and there was a wind running through the area, he didn't end up smelling death. Jake and Kumiko lay separate, one near the desk where all big guns were hidden and the other with the hand over the phone. Lily and Zane's bodies lay haphazardly; they had tried to fight off both Klaus and Vegh and if anything, that alone took guts and placed them higher on Brian's list.
He went to Lily first, remembering all the times she cared enough to wrench him from whatever high-end apartment Owen stuck him in while in between heists to take him to the scene around or just to socialize. She was the reason he wasn't some pale, bag-eyed panda with half a million personality problems. She was the reason he wasn't like Owen or...worse.
Now that he finally had some semblance of a real family...someone looking for him and caring for him, he couldn't share this with her and thank her for all those times she sent answering his questions on cities, life, and relationship bonds. He stil remembered that time when he asked why someone would build something like the Eiffel Tower if it wasn't going to provide comfort to anybody.
She had thankfully died with her eyes closed...he didn't have to see them gaze at the mess he had created. For time's sake, he grabbed her hands and set them over her stomach. Blood coated his hands like vivid, deranged gloves.
He turned intent on doing the same with Zane but stopped when he saw...thought he saw- no, definitely saw, breathing. Feeling exhilarated from the new find, he scrabbled until he was by the man's side and with desperation unknown until then, searched for a pulse.
There were a few tense seconds where his excite tee heart made it impossible to discern Zane's- possible- heartbeat for his own palpitating one. But eventually, as he forced himself to calm down, he heard it...he felt it.
"Son of a-" Brian cursed, immediately standing up quickly and heading off to Jake and Kumiko. Like Zane, Jake and Kumiko were living but barely. Lily...wasn't. He wasn't sure if he should feel happy or something in between anger and sadness.
With blood splattered hands, he raced to his car, heaving open the door and reaching for the cell he had abandoned earlier. His hands were deft as he plucked it from the seat but when he stopped to think of whom he was going to call, his breathing stuttered from nervousness again. Desperation made for a pathetic companion but he quickly decided for the smaller of two options.
His fingers slipped several times with the phone's small keyboard letters but eventually he got it ringing. When the phone picked up, he was ready.
Twenty minutes later had him racing inside the abandoned trailer that had at one point been his. This time, there were no bodies to interfere with his job and he advanced pretty fast, His cars had, thankfully, been left at the warehouse they had occupied shortly after leaving the first one. But there was still some personal effects there; particularly one that held everything he could use to contact Owen if for some reason, they were forced to escape a heist early on.
Despite these cautions forcing him to be dependent on Owen, he could not refute the reason why they were there in the first place and neither could he refute their usefulness now.
His laptop was still hidden under the mattress that had, inexplicably, been used more to hold car parts than a human body. Plucking the thing from there and plugging in the chip used to track Owen through license plates to planned heists was a matter of simplicity and in minutes, Brian was up and calling Hobbs who was regrettably the only contact in his phone that linked him and Toretto's crew.
"O'Connor, I hope you've been tightening that belt of yours and found Owen already," was Hobbs' greeting.
"You have to get moving. He's not leaving country the usual way- there's a landing strip...Lily...she was able to hijack it early on so there was a slight backup on the time. Owen had to retreat the ONI base instead of escaping from it. He's headed to London again...the outskirts."
"Motherfucking...are you sure about this?"
"You have two hours, get moving. I'already sent the coordinates to Parker. I'll be waiting."
