Geronimo Stilton: INTERPOL-The Beginning

by DrifterDan

After three years of working part time at Interpol, Geronimo and the gang still haven't captured the person who killed his childhood friend. Me, seeking protection by them is being threatened to be killed by terrorist that wants the chip which is implanted in my head. Some elements of Star Wars & GTA are later in this story. Rated T for violence and mild language. Pls r8 & review!

13. Chapter 13-The Run For The Hills

A/N: I'm back! I hope two weeks wasn't too long for you all. All the action happens here, and introducing the Thea Sisters! Welp, happy one hour of reading! At least that's how long Werdsmith calculated...

P.S.: Chapter rewritten as of 14/3/2018!

Disclaimer

I own nothing except plot and OCs.

---

Chapter 13

The Run For The Hills

Interpol Washington-Lab

9.10 a.m.

Thea's Perspective

I was sitting by Danny at the Pandora's desk, while chatting with the Thea Sisters on Facebook. With Danny sitting on Pandora's chair while the two mouselings went out for breakfast with Trap, I could tell that he's bored by the way that he was humming 'Payphone', 'Get Lucky' and 'Happy' while tapping the beats on the desk after listening to music from Pandora's radio, laying his head on the top for almost a few hours. Even I was moved by the rhythm, I was shaking my head back and forth as I chatted. And to help him reduce his depression, he's drank four large cups of milkshake in the past few hours.

As Danny drank his last slurp of his sixth (and final) large cup of vanilla milkshake that he got ten minutes ago, Geronimo waltzed up to the door. He signaled me to come forth.

I put my feet down and stood up, readjusted and refined my clothes, then took some steps to my brother. "Yes, Geronimo?"

"How's he holding up?" He asked, peering over my shoulder.

I counted Danny's activities with my fingers. "Um, let's see, he's humming songs while tapping his nails on the desk, he's drank 6 large cups of vanilla milkshake without going to the bathroom, he mentioned that he wanted to play games on his phone but he already smashed it during interrogation...how do you think he's doing?" I 'asked' cynically.

He recoiled with euphemism. "Cheese, Thea! I just wanted to know if his stress levels are high...which is clearly mild right now, judging by his boredom."

"Why do you want to know again?"

"Because we need to keep his stress down. We don't want him to go all Sith again."

I went back inside and sat on my chair, leaning at Danny. "Hey champ, how do ya feel?"

His cheek was on the desktop. "Like I wanna commit shuishide," he replied unclearly.

"C'mon, don't be like that..."

"I'll give you a hint, I've been shinging shongs in my head and humming them out loud."

I played dumb. "I have NO clue."

He raised his head off the desktop. "I'm BORED, Thea! Man, I really wish I haven't smashed my phone to the wall a few hours ago." Then he stands up. "Hey, do me a favor and wait for me outside the men's room."

I stood up as well. "May I ask why?"

"Are you kidding me? Having 6 large cups of vanilla milkshake doesn't make you pee? Now come on, before my bladder bursts like a water balloon."

"Whoa! OK, OK..."

---

My Perspective

After the short bathroom break...

Geronimo had all of us huddled back at the lab's break room, after Trap, Benjamin and Pandora returned from lunch and after me and Thea returned from the bathroom break.

"After further discussion with the Secretary General, we've decided for us relocate, again."

"Where would we go?" asked the young and naive Benjamin.

"Anywhere, as long as The Technologists doesn't track us down."

I interrupted. "I know of a place. I've a secret underground base somewhere in the country."

"Where is it?" Trap asked intriguingly.

"The downside of this is that...it's about twenty-five hundred miles away. In the middle of the Nevada Desert."

Everyone seemed shocked. Except for Geronimo, who was stroking his chin, considering about the option. "Hmm... I'm considering it, but the trip will take almost three days, or more on normal roads and I-80 in normal speeds, with the amount of traffic almost inconsistent everyday. And the risk is very high because the escort cars are unarmed."

"I can arrange the cars. I'll pick the cars that has the most weapons and security systems. And speaking of escorts, I don't want other Interpol agents involved. I don't want them to know that we're running this relocation because I don't want another mole situation to happen again."

Thea raises her paw. "Yes, Thea?" Geronimo responded.

"I think I can find us some five escorts. Mouse escorts."

Geronimo then turns his body to her, feeling interested. "Who did you have in mind?"

"The Thea Sisters."

Geronimo crossed his arms. "Aren't they still studiying?"

"They're on their semester break. What do you think I'm here for? I teach them journalism and train them in between classes."

"Train as in...commando training?" He reconfirmed, waving his paw.

She then nods. "Who knows if we ever need their backup?"

"Ooo...kay then," said Geronimo awkwardly. He turned to me. "Danny, how many cars that you're willing to prepare?"

"Okay, so that's six of us and five of them, which gives us a total of 11 people. And each car seats two, so... I'll prepare about 16 cars. Really essential to me. They consists of the Ghosts and the Bugatti Siblings."

"Okay then, I'll phone the Secretary General to reconfirm with him about the specific location of the relocation, the escorts and their vehicles and to approve us to drive over the speed limit to speed up the journey's time. We'll call this one, 'Operation The Run.'" He walks away and leaves us in the room as he talks with the Secretary General.

---

Arif Retreat Estate, 9.50 a.m.

We all jumped back into Ameera and Antonio to our soon-to-be-left home while being escorted by a group of four cars (again). The two autonomous smart vehicles drove to the courtyard to drop us off at the porch. Once we got out, the two drove back slowly to the garage, thanking them for the lift as they drove away.

We ran upstairs to our rooms and packed quickly (especially me, who only needed a few clothes in a duffel bag and a replacement iPhone). I shut the door to my room and sat in the hallway outside. While waiting for the others to finish, I raced a few Cup races in Real Racing 3 (I got so bored at that time).

Just when I was about to overtake the leader at the final stretch, Pandora and Thea came out, actually rushed out of their rooms with their bags. They were panting and taking cover beside the door, shutting it when they stormed out. It really looked like a cat crept in through window and into the room. I paused my race at Suzuka Circuit and asked. "Whoa! Whoa! Where's the fire?" I asked them. "You guys look like you were taking cover in a gunfight."

Thea then responds. "That's because there is one, OUTSIDE AT THE COURTYARD!"

I repelled and got up. "WHAT?"

Pandora interrupts. "They've made it past the gates and almost pierced the escort defenses. They're gonna get through any second!"

Thea peers over into the boys' room. "GERONIMO!"

He then sticks his snout out. "I overheard what happened. Were all packed!"

"But where are we suppose to escape? The front door's blocked!" Benjamin interrupted, sticking his snout under his uncle's.

"There's a hidden secret escape slide in your room that leads into the storage garage!" I informed.

"Have it revealed, then!" Geronimo ordered. We entered the room.

I hit the palm of my hand hard on the floor in the middle of the room. A person-sized circle was pushed down, and slid away into the floor. There it was, the slide.

"Throw in your weapons first," I instructed as I held the sling. Everyone followed. We dropped them in and planned to pick them up later. "Alright, we'll go one by one. Drop while hugging your luggage."

Pandora went first. "Ladies first!"

Benjamin was second. "Boys second!"

Trap went in next. "Woohoo!"

Me and Thea followed. "GERONIMO!"

And Geronimo in last. "Hup!"

We landed in the storage garage on our feet and paws safely, wiping the dust off our clothes (the escape slide hasn't been used in a while). The place was just like a multilevel underground parking garage. We picked up our weapons and slinged them back on our shoulders. "Sorry the slide was a little dusty guys," I apologized. "No ones been here a while so, you get the point."

"S'alright," said Benjamin who was still wiping dust off his shirt. "I've been itching to ditch these threads and wash 'em anyways."

"Okay, time to assign you guys to your vehicles. Thea, you're with me in Pierre. Geronimo, you go with Benjamin in Colette. Pandora, you're riding in Anton with Trap."

"Alright gang! Get to your assigned vehicles, start your engines and roll out!" Geronimo ordered loudly, clapping his paws.

The Stiltons, one Woz and me scampered to our Bugatti's. After the three cars opened their trunk lid (which was also the hood), rested our luggage in the trunk (which was in the front for people who doesn't love and know cars as much as I do), hopped in and pushed the start button, while not forgetting our seat belts. As Thea held the steering wheel and the HUD started projecting, I patched in the comlink signals to each other's cars.

"Geronimo, Trap, do you read?" I said, testing the signal strength.

"Loud and clear," Geronimo responded.

"Every word," Trap responded.

"Okay, keep your comlinks patched in and follow me and Thea as we lead us out of here. Ghosts, you guys are coming with me!"

"Copy that, sir!" they obeyed.

"J-Son! Execute Evac and Self-Destruct Protocol!"

"On it, sir!" He replied.

The garage walls echoed off of other cars' starting engines and they moved towards the upper levels. By other cars, I meant EVERY car in the garage.

Thea looked at me curiously as she pushed the gearstick into drive, probably the way the cars are driving out. "What's Evac and Self-Destruct Protocol?"

"I'd love to explain, but right now? We need to bail, fast! Start by exiting to your left." We drove out from the parking space and followed the other supercars to the upper level, to the backup emergency exit. "Get into the tunnel that says: 'Emergency exit', and floor it." I instructed.

Thea turned on Pierre's headlights and we were driving behind Antonio and alongside Ameera in the two-lane tunnel. Geronimo and Trap were behind us, followed by Diane and the Ghosts. The tunnel started to incline upwards slightly, about to act as a ramp. The quad-turbochargers where whirring up at 7900 rpm, Thea shifts up, letting go a pop of backfire. Although cruising at 168 miles an hour, everyone stayed calm and quiet. It maybe that or everyone was so nervous that they couldn't squeak or utter a single word. We sped along up until a few seconds later, a light was shining in our eyes at the end of the tunnel.

"Hold on guys, we're gonna catch some air!" I warned as we almost reached the tunnel's end. At about 172 miles an hour, we and a sum of 500+ supercars launched a few feet in the air like a rally car tackling a jump as we found ourselves back in the middle of the forest. Thea forgot to let go of the gas, resulting Pierre to redline. In about 0.88 seconds of being airborne later, Pierre and the others landed on the tires with us jolting our heads. Pierre and the rest of the cars activate their Rally Modes, making them retread their tires to spiky off-road patterns and increase their ride height by 20 millimeters.

Thea pilots through the forest along the dirt path at high speed as if she was Sebastien Loeb. "So, what was Evac and Self-Destruct Protocol again?" she asked.

"Evac involves all my cars and the residents of the property to evacuate out of that property. The cars go scatter all over the country, hiding in different locations depending on which the property is located in."

She then drifts at a sharp but not-so-angled right corner. "You stole the Jackspot concept from Need For Speed Most Wanted, didn't you?" I kept quiet, with a strained silence entering the air-conditioning vents. "What about Self-Destruct?"

"As the name implies, I planted some few explosives all over the property and blow it all up to the ground, starting with the bio-ethanol supply tank in the storage garage."

She barely hit a tree when she maneuvered through a hard right. "YOU ARE GOING TO BLOW UP YOUR AWESOME AND ONE OF A KIND ESTATE?"

"I have to, Thea. It's the only way The Technologists can't know about my secret." I contacted J-Son. "J-son get ready to detonate. On my one, 3...2...1..."

The sound of the multiple explosions at the estate rocked our convoy and possibly the whole forest. A giant mushroom cloud was seen in the horizon via the rear view mirrors. The assaulters from just now may not have survived the explosion, that is; if they haven't left. I thought that it had a sentimental value to Thea by the way she was saying: "Goodbye, beautiful estate."

We almost made it back to the asphalt, about 2 more miles away. What I didn't mention before about the first two miles of the forest is that it's the most intense parts of the course. "You want some help with this part of the dirt course? It gonna get really hairy round here."

She drove Pierre over a crest. "Yes, PLEASE!"

"Okay, do you prefer normal rally pacenotes or Jemba notes?" Jemba notes are American rally pace notes.

"Normal notes!"

"Geronimo and Trap know how to interpret this?"

"Yes, we three were in a rallying championship back in NMC!"

"Contact 'em!"

"Geronimo! Trap! Danny's gonna relay some rally pacenotes! Listen carefully!"

"Um... Okay... Pierre! Pacenotes!" He showed the notes on the holographic screen. It read:

"100 long R5/CR"

I translated it to which Thea listens to and executes (in an authentic Scottish accent): "(In) 100 (meters) long Right (corner severity) 5 over crest." She then executes the notes.

I read more notes. This one read:

"200 short L3 n.c."

This translated to again which Thea hears and executes: "200 short left 3, don't cut." Don't cut means don't cut the corner on the apex because there might be an obstruction, like a tree stump we passed.

Now you try reading it. A slash means over, CR means crest, n.c. means no cutting, an exclamation mark means caution, and means tightens. Now, try reading the following notes:

"100 Short R1 tidy into L2"

If you still didn't get it, it translated to: "Hundred short right 1 tidy into left 2." She and the others executed the corners. "Tidy" means don't hang it out. Keep the car clean in the center of the road through the next section. It could be because of little drainage walls or more obstacles on either or both sides. In our case, two boulders. I read more pacenotes:

"300 ! Jump"

Translates to: "300 double caution jump." We went over the jump seconds later, leaving a trail of dust behind as we landed.

More notes that read:

"1000 long easy L2/CR kick into R3"

I translated it to: "Thousand long easy left 2 over crest, kick into right 3 tightens."

After a few minutes driving and a few more pacenotes read, we almost made it to the asphalt. The last pieces of pacenotes I read to Thea were: "100 L2/ bridge, narrows slightly." 'Narrows' mean that the road is narrowing. And: "Flat (straight), double caution jump, widens." 'Widens' mean the road is widening.

Finally we saw the end of the forest at the final stretch. I summarized and finished with: "Long left 1 flat, and finish."

"Thanks for the navigation Danny, I really needed that," she thanked after going through the short rally stage.

"No prob," I switched back to my American.

We drove on the asphalt as soon as the tires stepped on it, screeching them as Pierre and the rest landed after going over a crest. The other cars that weren't involve in Operation The Run split up and went to continue their journey to their respective jackspots. As for us that were, the cars switched to sport mode and went straight for Interpol Washington...at high speed. (It was definitely an emergency, to avoid anymore possible threats.)

We decided to take the highway to the HQ. So when we got to the underpass from where we came, we took the on ramp and sped through mild traffic, scrambling ourselves on the road, switching lanes without the turn signals and drifting at turns.

"Autopilot on," Thea squeaked. Pierre takes over and she took her paws off the wheel, fluttering her fingers as she looked around as if she was trying to figure something out. "Um, how do you summon the holo screen?" she asked.

I began by pinching all my fingers to form a duckbill and spread them out anywhere in front of the dashboard. After the Springboard revealed, I pushed the screen to her, hovering over her lap. As the wheel behind the projection spun left and right, Thea 'touches' the Facebook icon (her finger went through actually). She then logs in to her account. 'What is she doing?' I thought. She then 'touches' the chat icon and scrolls down and up for a specific friend in the list. She stopped when she found one of her friends that was online, named Paulina. She 'taps' on it, opening up the chat bubble.

"If you wanna start a video call, the camera is hidden in the tachometer needle's point of origin," I informed.

She then 'taps' on the video call icon, opening a little window within the app. All she had to do know was to wait for this 'Paulina' to pick up.

Paulina responds a few short moments later. "Hi girls!" Thea started, looking into the tachometer.

"Hi Thea!" A group of of girls greeted back. I peered at the screen to look who they were. A group of five female mice, surrounding the laptop (at least that what it appeared to be, judging from what was the call connected from). Paulina was the mouse at the middle. She had grey fur, long and braided black hair and wore an orange dress.

"It been a while since we've seen you. How are you?" squeaked the mouse with the Australian accent.

"I'm just fine here, Nicky."

I interrupted and made the throat slashing gesture. "Cut to the chase, Thea," I whispered.

Thea continued as Pierre drifts through a tight left. "Oh, right," she turns back to the girls. "Listen girls, it's time to put your training to the test. I'm on another assignment and I need you're help."

"You really think that we're ready?" asked the mouse with almond-shaped eyes.

"I don't think, I know."

"What do you want us to do then?" asked Paulina.

"I need you to become security escorts for a person, very much a teenager under my protective custody."

"Who is it?" wondered the mouse in pink with a French accent.

"You'd be surprised but, he's junior tech expert, inventor and video game developer, Danial Arif."

"Slash my tire with a cheeseknife! Are you for real?" said the brown-furred mouse.

"Danny, come say hello," she cued me.

I leaned my head in front of Thea's snout. "'Sup gals!"

The Thea Sisters shrieked. Like shallow celebrity gossipers. "Hi Danny!" they greeted back, waving their paws.

"Thea told me that you guys are the perfect mice for the job. I hope you guys are as trustworthy as she said you guys are."

"You can count on us. We won't let you down," Paulina reassured.

I turned to Thea. "I knew I'd never make a mistake when you recommended them to me, Thea!"

"Where do we meet?" the French mouse questioned.

"Fly to Dulles International ASAP and we'll rendezvous at Interpol Washington as soon as you land.

"Okay then, we'll see you guys at DC!" Paulina promised with a smile. "By the way, where are you now, anyway?"

"We're inside one of Danny's Bugatti Veyrons, speeding at a highway through traffic to HQ."

"Ooo...kay... See you there!" Her last squeaks before she terminated the call.

She then logs out her Facebook account and pushes the screen back to me, returning her paws back to the steering wheel to deactivate autopilot.

I pinched my five fingers and then the screen shrinks out of sight. "They look kinda cute..." I commented.

She shot me with an awkward look. "Danny, I can't believe that your going all Tony Stark!"

"What are you insinuating?" I said with a raised eyebrow. She kept quiet, until I finally got the idea. "No, Thea, I am NOT a playboy, OK?"

She veered to the right, avoiding a semi truck. "I didn't say that..."

"It sounded like you were."

We then heard sirens from behind us. It was a group of three Metro PD Ford Crown Victorias, attempting to pull our convoy over. "Pull your vehicles over to the side of the road, NOW!" ordered one of the drivers in the police cars.

"We've got a problem, team," announced Geronimo through the comlink. "One of the civilian drivers have reported and claimed that we were street racing over 911. We can't take the chance of being pulled over and letting this leak into the media."

"Okay, different plan! We'll shake them in the city. If we split up, we'll rendezvous at HQ after losing 'em," I said. "Alright... Thea, take the next intersection to Downtown DC."

"Easier said than done, Danny," Thea said.

Geronimo interrupts. "Good thing I renewed my expired license a month ago, didn't I, Thea?"

"Driving with Solar surely did help you past the driving test. Good thing that she was just like me, huh?"

"Yeah..." I think they both were referring about Geronimo's recently published book, 'Get Into Gear, Stilton!'. I never knew that Prof Von Volt could create such a car!

---

Meanwhile on Whale Island...

"Awesome! We get to go on another adventure!" said Pamela.

"But to get to DC, we've gotta get off the island back to Mouse Island then fly out from Angorat International," said Paulina, shutting down her MacBook.

"And the current way off the island is..."

"No! Not Vince Guymouse again!" complained Colette. "He's so irritating..."

"And the way he pilots the plane... Even an unlicensed bloke can fly better than him!" Nicky compared, feeling cheesed.

"Girls! Hold on! We've got three options on how to get off Whale Island," suggested Violet. "One, we fly out with Vince's hydroplane, which no one will never agree to..."

"Exactly," agreed Colette, interrupting her.

"Two, Professor de Mousus had arranged a new hydrofoil service to and fro..."

She was cut off again, this time, by Pamela. "It's too late for that. The last hydrofoil left for New Mouse City last evening. It'll be expected to come back in another two days."

"Or three, by sailing on Thea's yacht that she just bought, which she left behind when she left for her new Interpol assignment in the Metamouse."

Everyone thought of option three for a while. "Hmm... It'll only take a mere six hours from here to NMC Harbor, and the yacht does appear to fit all of us and our luggage. I think we just found our way out of here!" exclaimed Nicky with an idea.

"All in favor of leaving on Thea's yacht say 'aye'!" said Pamela.

Nicky agreed. "Aye!"

Violet raised her paw. "Aye!"

Paulina did the same. "Aye!"

Colette had something to ask. "I...have a question. Do we have a limit for the luggage count?"

"Considering the mediocre size of the yacht, I say we do," Pamela answered. "We can only bring one bag of luggage per mouse."

"So, uh...Colette..." Nicky chuckled. "You might need to pack light and leave those chests full of clothes behind." Colette crossed her arms and looked away in disagreement, letting out a little 'humph'.

"It's settled then! We'll get permission from the Headmaster to leave the island. Before that, let's start packing!" announced Paulina.

"And when do we leave?" asked Colette.

"Right after we pack, she did say ASAP, right?" answered Violet.

They got packing, they stuffed their bags with every necessary piece of clothing they had. The Thea Sisters packed light as mentioned, except for Colette who packed an extra-large duffle bag with clothes for every occasion, not to mention the makeup. Either home, or combat.

They left their dorms with their bags and marched towards Professor De Mousus' office. He flung the door open when Paulina knocked, and let them in. They told him the purpose of their visit and asked for his approval to leave the island over tea and cheese cracker sandwiches. He permitted their request and the mouslets thanked him for that. The Headmaster told them to send his regards to Thea when they meet with her.

The girls scampered their way to the harbor and saw Thea's yacht at one of the piers, tied to a short post.

"Does anyone here know how to sail a yacht?" Colette asked, looking at the others.

"I do," said Nicky, raising her paw. "You girls just relax in the hull while I navigate us through the sea."

"Hold on, I have to check the weather forecast for today," Paulina halted, taking out her iPhone. She then asks Siri for the weather. "What's the weather like today, Siri?"

Siri's computerized voice answered: "It will be sunny all day, with a chance of slight breezes. It's currently 85 degrees Farenheit, with the highest at 92 degrees."

Paulina turns back to her friends. "We're good to go!"

"Let's sail!" Announced Pamela enthusiastically.

They boarded the yacht, Nicky climbed the ladder up to the controls while the rest put their luggage in the room inside the hull. Then they went back out to enjoy the open-sea air when they leave.

Nicky tuns on the controls and navigation equipment on the dashboard and starts the motor. She then begins a system's check. "Compass, check. Radar, check. GPS, working. Sonar, functional. Passengers, aboard. We're set!" She then pushes the accelerator lever slowly to avoid anyone from jolting backwards, throwing them overboard. In a few hours later, they we're already halfway across the Ratlantic Ocean.

---

Meanwhile at Downtown Washington, DC...

We were already at the city, all 16 of us. Surrounded by heavy traffic and tall buildings. As we reached Downtown, more cop cars appeared from crossroads and junctions. Before I even knew it, we were engaged in a heated hot pursuit.

"Slide, glide and snake through traffic. The cops driving skills are not as matching to ours. Plus, the distractions when they copy the moves will slow them down," I commanded.

The convoy zigzagged passed past cars, ran through red lights and stop signs and even commandeered perfectly in the road with the opposite flow of traffic. That wasn't done intentionally, and I advise you NOT to do what you read right now. Well, maybe in some cases like later but, do it on your own risk.

Unfortunately, the tactic didn't work. Metro PD Crown Vic's managed to copy our moves exactly how we did and were still hot on our tails. Plus, the amount of traffic slowed us down. "I think you maybe have underestimated them," Thea said, swerving to the right as she almost hit a civilian Buick Regal.

"Different tactic! We'll scatter all over the city, using pursuit tech and non-projectile weapons to help evade the cops. Recommended to let the passengers to become your weapon operators," I said. "Take the next crossroad to split up. Once we've lost the cops, we'll rendezvous back at the HQ."

"Question! How do we operate the weapons?" asked Benjamin.

"Colette will give you a tutorial on how to operate her weapons systems. Same goes to Anton, Pandora!" We came close to approaching the crossroad. "Alright, we split...NOW!"

Thea and I drifted left, Trap and Pandora veered right, Geronimo and Benjamin went straight. As for the autonomous cars, Diane, the CCXs and CCXRs also went straight, the three Ageras followed me and Thea while the other two tailed Anton.

Me, Thea and the Ageras gave everything we had at the five Metro PD cars that chased us, this time, five Dodge Chargers without the police livery. I activated Pierre's EMP and locked on. I EMP-ed two PCs (police cars), Phantom dropped a few hundred tiny caltrops on the road and disabled one more, Banshee released an electric bolt that electrified the road behind her, making it heat up and popping the tires of the two other PCs, immobilizing them. "We got the cops off our back! What's your progress, Geronimo? Trap?" I asked.

"Having a little trouble here," Geronimo reported in, handbraking, then redlining Colette to dodge a civilian Chevrolet Silverado. "We just uh...deployed the spikes and and it's just staying in its box form!"

"Who's behind you guys?"

"Uh..." I assumed that he was looking in his rear views. "Diane, a few of the Ghosts and a dozen Metro PD Dodge Chargers."

How much distance are you with them?" I asked.

"Your cars or the PCs?"

"The PCs!"

He paused, hearing the squeal of tires and redlining as he downshifted. "Five seconds, about half a kilometer."

"They should extend...NOW!" I watched the rear view camera feed of Colette from Pierre's holo screen in anxiety. I zoomed in, watching the spikes flatten most the PCs' tires, while the others stopped just by half an inch. "Yes!" I exclaimed victoriously. "Now go find somewhere to hide and lay low. You keep staying out in the open like this, you'll raise more heat."

"An electromagnetic invisibility screen would be helpful right now..."

"One disadvantage, G. We can see people, but people can't see us." Another reference to his book, the Prof's car, Solar, can turn invisible using the method as mentioned. I turned to Thea. "Thea, I think it's time for us to disappear too."

She drifts into a street, backfiring from shifting down. "I was just about to do that..." Her keen eyes saw an alleyway. She pulls a 180 degree spin, with the back of Pierre going inside. She shifts into reverse, going deeper into it. She shuts the engine down after stopping, then turned off the headlights.

I asked everyone for a status report. "Sit rep, guys. I need to know what's going on. Thea and I just escaped the cops, along with the Ageras. Geronimo, what's your twenty?"

"We're in a multilevel car park, with the Ghosts along with us."

"Trap?"

"Struggling!" he reported harshly. I heard and assumed that he pulled a 180 spin, going in reverse right after. "Pandora! Caltrops!" I heard a beep, which meant that she pressed the 'deploy' button. Another series of tire squeals were heard, and more redlining. Trap had done another 180 spin, driving forwards. "The cops are gone, I'm going into another street, and...I just bumped into a multilevel parking garage. I'm laying low here." He climbs to the second level. "Oh, hey G!" They were in the same hiding spot.

"Ghosts! You guys are cooling down?"

"Yes, sir. Most of us are in the alleys," Phantom replied.

"Alright Bugattis, Ghosts. Time to change skins." By changing skins, I meant change paint jobs.

Pierre swapped paint jobs the black and silver paint with black and silver wheels. Everything just swiped and replaced with the new one.

Thea peered her head over the dashboard to see what happened. "Whoa..." She gasped with astonishment.

"Impressive," Geronimo praised as Colette put on her white and light blue Special Edition colors.

"Cheddariffic!" Benjamin commented.

"Coooool!" Pandora and Trap said simultaneously as Anton switches to his solid white and black livery.

"Now someone tell me that this isn't as cool as the car that the Professor built," I bragged, referring to Solar.

"I have to say that I'm impressed by your cars technology," commented Geronimo. "Though it doesn't have a mini library for sudden brainstorms like Sol..." Colette projects the holo screen and shows her collection of e-books. Then, she pops out a physical keyboard out of the roof of the glove box. "I stand corrected, maybe you are slightly better than Sol, Colette. But I couldn't say that in front of her, she'd be jealous."

It took a few seconds for the paint jobs to apply. Once they've finished, it was time for the change of license plates. They were actually screens that let the cars change their registration numbers if they become wanted by law enforcement.

Pierre: '2FAST4U',

Colette: 'CANTTOUCHDIS'

Anton: 'H8RSGONH8'

Diane: 'ND4SPD'

"We're cooled down, move out and we'll meet at the rendezvous point," I ordered. "But be careful, cops are still packing up heat."

Thea started up Pierre and drove out the alley. After we saw three Metro PD cars speeding past us with their sirens on when we were about to make the turn, Thea used her turn signals and abided the laws of the road on our way to HQ.

---

Interpol Washington

1.25 p.m.

We've arrived without attracting anymore cop cars and parked the convoy vehicles in the underground garage.

We decided to hang out at the lab to talk about Operation The Run in private.

Geronimo jut got off the phone. "You have called the Thea Sisters?" Geronimo asked his sister.

Thea was sitting on a chair next to the milkshake dispenser. "Yup, they said they'll do it. They're on their way here."

"Chedarrific! The Secretary General has approved my requests. But one teensy detail, because he had kept the Operation between him and the ones involved, he didn't inform the US's Department of Justice to not look for our cars."

"This basically means that we're wanted fugitives? And we're on our own?" I asked to reconfirm.

"At least your cars are. Thanks to their tinted glass, the cops never saw us riding in them."

"Good to know...I think..."

"So, uh...we're crashing here until the Thea Sisters get here?" Benjamin asked.

"Yup," Thea answered. "After all, is did tell them to meet up here."

---

16 hours later...

Friday, August 24, 2013, 5.12 a.m.

As I was dreaming about how Operation The Run was going so well, arriving at the base while in the state of being alive and well, the sound of Thea's caller ringtone playing the song 'Call Me Maybe' woke me up. In fact, it woke up everyone in the lab.

She picked it up and answered in a sleepy voice. "Hello?...yawn...Paulina? You and the Sisters are here? OK, OK, Danial's gonna send three cars to pick you girls up. Wait at the pick-up area. They'll be there in about twenty minutes or less. Alright, bye." She turned to me, who was fully awake. "Danny, I need you to send three cars to Dulles International. The Thea Sisters are here!"

I touched my right temple. "Alright... Banshee, Phantom and Wraith, I want you guys to pick up some people at Dulles International. I'll send you their info."

"Ten-Four," they all obeyed with their almost human, computerized voice.

They moved out of the parking garage and sped their way to the airport.

---

Meanwhile...

Washington Dulles International Airport

5.30 a.m.

Paulina calls Thea on her iPhone again after ALMOST twenty minutes of waiting. "Hello, Thea? Yeah, we've been waiting for a while and the cars are still not showing up!"

"Has it been twenty minutes yet?" she replied.

She checked her watch. "Uh...no?"

"Then wait, they'll be there."

The Thea Sisters and the rest of the airport bystanders then heard loud sounds engines being revved up, echoing off the airport terminal. They peered while standing on their toes. The sight of the three Ghosts driving slowly and stylishly along the terminal road was capturing attention from everyone, murmuring as they drove by. Their presence was accompanied by the twilight of the rising sun in the horizon. And to keep the showing-off atmosphere alive, they've synced their media players to play Chamillionaire's 'Ridin' Dirty' on their external speakers.

Pamela recognized the cars immediately and gasped. "Are those KOENIGSEGGS?"

Paulina returned her phone to her ear. "Uh...Thea? Did he just sent us Koenigseggs?" she asked, sounding unsure.

"Yup. See? I told you they'd be there..."

The Ghosts closed in on them. "Are you sure they can seat us all?"

"They're autonomous smart vehicle, they don't need drivers."

The three cars parked right in front of them at the pickup zone, synchronized with the music timing. As they stopped and parked, the chorus of the song played.

"Are these the cars that Thea was talking about?" Colette asked, looking over Paulina's shoulder.

"That's what she said on the phone," said Peruvian mouselet.

Upon hearing that, Pamela reserved Phantom for herself. "I got dibs on the Agera R!"

Violet waltzed along Banshee, admiring her beauty and grace, stroking her as she walked. Pamela just stared at Phantom in amazement. "Have you fallen in love with a car, Pam?" Nicky asked.

"It seems that I have!" she answered.

Paulina looked at Wraith's interior through the window, bending down. She smiled when she saw no driver, feeling impressed.

All of the five went to the doors, trying to figure out how to open them. Pamela knew how, but when she tried she found that it was locked. Then, the side-mirrors of all cars turned their backside facing the mouselets. Then, they acted as facial recognition scanners, and scanned their faces.

Phantom's analysis: "Pamela identified," he said aloud.

Banshee's analysis: "Violet and Colette identified."

Ghoul's analysis: "Nicky and Paulina identified."

Phantom began fading the vocals of the song away and did an intro as the instrumental played along: "Hello, Thea Sisters. I am Phantom, the Koenigsegg Agera R. Behind me respectively are my sister and brother, Banshee and Wraith."

The other two cars greeted them. "Hello, girls."

Phantom continued. "We were sent by our master, Danial Arif, to pick you all up. Please, put your luggage inside our trunks and hop inside us so we can take you all to the rendezvous point." The three Ageras opened their hoods, raised up by hydraulic pistons and revealed their small luggage spaces. Colette looked and felt unsure if her big bag could fit.

"Don't worry Colette, your bag does fit into the space, despite its large size," Banshee reassured, joking at the same time.

Once they put their bags, the three supercars opened their doors for the mouselings. They felt impressed by the way they opened, outward and spun upwards. They're kinda like scissor doors, but with a little difference.

"Ooh-la-la!" Colette commented.

They were already inside. But the next thing to figure out is...

"How do we close these things?" Nicky asked.

"Don't worry Nicky, I will close them for you," offered Wraith. He closed the doors.

The cars patched in their comlinks together and informed the girls about it. Next, a few settings.

"Would you like some sound insulation inside the cockpit? My V8 engine can be a little noisy at times," offered the Ageras to their passengers.

Nicky and Paulina said: "No thanks, Wraith."

Pamela with: "No way! I wanna listen to the roar of your V8!"

Violet and Colette thought of it for a while. "What do you think Colette? Wanna go for a little V8?" Violet asked. She shook her head.

"We'd do with some insulation please," Violet decided.

"And do buckle up your harness seat belts, some parts of this trip will get quite messy," Phantom advised the mouselets. It took time for them to figure up out how, but they managed to do it eventually.

The cars turned the vocals of the song back on, both inside the cockpit and outside, the second chorus played as they started to drive away slowly, leaving for the rendezvous point. The airport bystanders from the outside just clapped, cheered and applauded while the Thea Sisters past them. Banshee passes a group of college boys near the end of the terminal. She turns the backside of her right side mirrors to them and projected a teasing holographic message that said:

"Don't 'chu wish yo girlfriends were hot like me?"

The two mice inside the cockpit just giggled.

As they reached the end of the terminal, they began to speed away in screeching tires, leaving a burst of backfire at the tailpipe and a trail of tire-tracks along the terminal road.

---

Interpol Washington-Lab

20 minutes later, 6.00 a.m.

I just got out from the hot quarantine shower about a few minutes ago, scrubbing myself with a loofah and nice scented herbal soap and brushed my teeth with some minty toothpaste. That quarantine shower was all they had for me to freshen up, so don't judge.

I was combing my hair in front of a mirror in the break room after putting on my fresh second top. That's when Pandora stuck her snout inside the room. "Danny, they're here!" she informed.

"In the lab?" I asked. I worried because if they were, there goes my big welcome plan.

"Not here, in the garage. Meet me there." She left, and there was still time for me to style my hair.

After I did that, I swiped the drop-leg holster that I bought from Malaysia from Pandora's desk (you still remember about it, right?) and tied the laces on my thighs. Next, I nabbed the USP45, slid it in the holster and took the HK416 off the desk and made it sling on my shoulder. I was dressed up, geared up, ready for my big entrance for the Thea Sisters, and took the elevator to the basement parking.

I pressed on the 'LG' button, and the doors slid close from the sides. At the same time, I was feeling nervous and excited, tucking my hands in my pockets, asking myself: "I wonder what kind of first impression will they have on me?" Then I found out...

When the elevator stopped and opened its doors.

"There he is," Thea introduced me as the doors slid to the side.

"Hi girls!" I greeted with a wave and smile as I came out.

"Oh my gosh! It's him!" said the French blonde mouse. Despite their feeling when they saw me, they still kept cool and calm, but inside their minds, they were jumping up and down. Their eyes popped out, looking bigger than a meatball. "Hi!" They said, feeling giddy-ish, waving back.

"So Geronimo, we ready to roll?" I asked him as he stood I front of the cars.

"Not yet. We still need to plan our route and get the girls to gear up."

I turned back to the Thea Sisters, marching towards them. "I'm sorry girls, I believe I haven't introduced myself properly. As you all know, I am junior tech expert, software and video game designer, programmer, and developer, Danial Arif. But you can all just call me Danny."

The curled-hair mouse extended her arm. "Pamela. An expert at machinery and a student of Thea's. Call me Pam," she said. I grabbed her paw and shook it heartily.

"It's great to meet you in person, Pam."

"Likewise! I love your cars, especially the Agera R," she continued, turning to Phantom.

"Ah... Phantom. He told me that you showed interest towards him. You and him will make great traveling buddies." I turned to the next Thea Sister.

"G'day! The name's Nicky, an Aussie and outdoorsmouse. Call me Nic." She reached her paw out, and I gave it a strong grip and shook it.

I switch to my Australia accent. "G'day to you too, Nic!"

"You have an accent?"

Thea interrupts as she sits on Pierre's hood. "He has many different kinds..."

I continued, letting go of my grip. "Say, you look younger than the others. How old are you?"

"Wow, is it really that obvious?" She bends down and whispered into my ear. "Don't tell the others, I'm 16."

"We can hear you whispering out loud, Nic. We all know you're 16," Paulina revealed, smirking.

"Darn it, Polly!" Nicky exclaimed with a frustrated smile. The others giggled.

I was astonished. She was only three years older than me. "Whoa! I had no idea..." I signaled her to bend down to me again. This time, I whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, I'll keep your other secret."

Nicky was puzzled. "What other secret?"

"Your little crush on that Hawaiian surfer, Renani, when you all went to Hawaii weeks ago." I was referring to the events of their latest book, 'The Legend Of The Fire Flowers'.

She then backs away upon hearing that, with her cheeks flushing tornado red. "You knew? How?"

"Telepathy..." I lied... sort of. I did read her mind, but I knew way earlier than that.

"You haven't happen to read 'The Legend of The Fire Flowers', have you?"

Damn, she figured me out. "Shit, I was so close to tricking you... What about the other Sisters, have they read it yet?"

She shook her head vigorously, swaying her twin tails. "Noooo! We haven't gotten our copies yet but Thea mentioned that she slipped that part in!"

"Not so loud! They'll hear you!" I glanced at the other Sisters. "I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Right!"

I went to meet the next mouse, which was Paulina. "Hi! I'm Paulina. I specialize in tech and coding. You can call me Polly if you want."

"A techie, eh? Then what kind of encryption did the 90's computer virus, the 1260, used?"

"Polymorphic," she ansewered with confidence. "Speaking of virueses, I made my own a week ago."

"Ooh, what does it do?"

"It's a joke virus that releases payloads in form of memes, taunts, something like that."

"Care to demonstrate someday?"

"Give me a virtual machine, and I'll show you!"

"Hope to see it in action one day."

I moved to the next mouse. She was calm and quiet, and she reminded me a little of Geronimo. "I'll have to guess that you are who they call Violet," I began.

Violet recoiled. "Gee, I wonder how'd he guessed?" she joked. "I'm kidding. The outfit was a dead givaway."

"And your eyes also... Wow, they look pretty when they glitter like that."

She blushed. "Oh, stop it! Anyway, it'll be an honor to be escorting you to safety."

"It's an honor to be escorted by all of you," I replied. "I'll talk to you later!"

"Alright!" She waved goodbye.

I walked to the French blonde. "Bonjour..." I spoke in her tongue.

She was all jumpy but at the same time tried to keep herself as calm as possible. "Bonjour, je m'appelle Colette! Je suis tellement excitée de vous rencontrer en personne!"

"Moi aussi! Je suis en fait un grand fan de toi."

"Mon Dieu! He's a fan of mine!" Suddenly, she just took a heavy breath, and collapsed under the pressure, like a damsel. Luckily, she didn't slam her head onto the ground, because my quick reflexes made me act and held her up from her back.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed, catching her.

"Colette!" Everyone screamed. I gently laid her down and we circled around her, checking if she's alright.

"Colette! Are you okay?" Pamela called, trying to wake her up.

"He is a fan of mine...!" she whispered as a response, smiling.

I looked at Pamela. "Is she always like this?"

"If a celebrity tells her he's a big fan of hers, yes. Please excuse her."

"It's alright, I'm pretty used to it. Coco?"

Colette finally regains her consciousness, though still feeling doozy. "Yes?"

"It's time to get up and get armed, Colette," Pam reminded.

As said, they were getting armed since they were given temporary gun licenses by Interpol. Thea had their weapons stored in a metal briefcase. "Alright girls, you'll be equipped with a USP45, a drop-leg holster and and seven extra magazines each. And I hearby deputize you all as Interpol Deputies." Thea threw them the guns that was tucked into their holsters to each of the mice along with the magazines. They tied the laces onto their thighs, then took out their guns, and inspected them.

I strolled back to Thea, who was shutting her briefcase. "Seems like they know what they're doing," I started, looking back and hearing Colette putting in a magazine, cocking the gun after.

"Of course, because I taught them," she bragged, putting away the briefcase.

Then I started something off-topic. "You know, of all the minds I read in this group, everyone's had a crush on or at least being admired by someone. The only ones that don't are only me, you, and Pam."

"Yeah, you're right..." she agreed, looking at her students gearing up.

"Sometimes I wonder, when am I gonna find love?"

"I wonder the same thing... Geronimo's got a crush on Pandora's aunt, Pandora and Benjamin have a crush on each other..."

After every mice and human armed, with their alert, awareness and cautiousness level cranked up to eleven, Geronimo, Thea and I were about to plan the route we were about to take. Until, Geronimo had one last surprise.

"Before we start planning our route, there's someone I'd like all of you to meet," he announced.

We looked at the cargo elevator behind us, just a few yards from us. The place where all the supplies were hauled up, all the ice cubes and snacks for the operation's command room's lounge, the ingredients to make milkshake in Pandora's lab, even the pieces of evidence Pandora processed, was used to transport ten particularly familiar men in black combat suits, each carrying a bag. They dramatically walked out of the elevator in slow motion, making them look like a group of astronauts getting ready to blast off in a rocket to the moon.

They were the Wolf Pack; the team of elite police drivers that escorted us back in Malaysia. I began to wonder: 'What the heck are they all doing here?' Even more intriguing, why was Hussein looking at Pam when he first came out of the elevator? I can calculate a person's point of eyesight, you should know that since I'm a cyborg.

They marched at normal speed. "Sergeant Hussein and the Wolf Pack?" said Thea upon seeing them.

"That's us!" The Sergeant responded cheerfully, shouting from across the garage.

"It's really great to see you guys again!" I said.

"Explaination, please?" said Thea to her brother.

"Heh...it turns out that they were actually probationary Interpol operatives, working for the police. He and his team got promoted after they successfully completed their mission, which is, escorting us to the airbase," he explained.

The Wolf Pack approached us closer. "So they're with us now?" Thea asked to reconfirm.

"Yup!" the Sergeant interrupted, or at least, Agent. He and his team stopped in front of the Ghosts.

"There's a few extra Koenigseggs that aren't yet reserved or taken, so pick whichever car you want," I proposed, pointing out which cars while walking to them. "Plus, there's one more room in the Agera R, but you'll have to travel with a female mouse who reserved Phantom for herself." I said that to see if my suspicions were true. Anyway, the nine men marched to the Ghost members of their desire, assisted by the cars themselves by opening the trunks for them.

Sergeant Hussein - or rather - Agent Hussein turned facing his team. "Any volunteers to ride with the female mouse?" he offered to them, raising his hand. No one wanted to respond. "Anyone? No one?" He lowered his arm. Before one of his teammates could respond, he cut him off. "Fine, but don't regret on missing out. Note that you just rejected a once-in-a-lifetime offer to ride in an Agera R. C'mon Danny, I wanna meet my traveling buddy." He then turns his back on his team, and walked away. Seemed that he was the one who wanted to ride with Pam.

I walked with him and switched to my Italian accent. "What was dat all about?"

"They were just simply too shy to ride along with another person with the opposite gender. Sorry to say this in front o' you, but I just don't think that they have the balls. Nice accent though."

"Balls? You think dat dis is about havin' balls? Dude, I sit side by side with Thea all the time and we act like siblings!"

"This is different..." I just figured out that he was going to hit on Pam. Seriously? With me by his side?

We stopped. "Alright then, you say that it takes balls? You go talk to her, then. Alone."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Wha-wh-ho-how am I supposed to know which one's her?" I read his mind, he lied. He knew who Pam was, he just wanted me to accompany him.

I pointed my index finger towards Pamela as she chatted with her friends. "You see that mouse with the curly hair? That's her, she fell in love with Phantom and she ain't lettin' him go. You better make a good first impression."

"B-b-but-"

"Go!" I pushed him towards the Thea Sisters, and stayed behind, crossing my arms.

He looked back at me, and I responded with a nod while holding a proud face impression.

Then came the big moment, Colette notices the presence of the young, tall and handsome agent as they were chatting, and then alerts her friend, Pamela.

The beautiful rodent turned around facing the nervous agent. "Hi!" she started, flipping her hair aside, putting on a bright smile. Her shiny and sparkling eyes pierced into his, making his heartbeat intensify.

"I - um - uh..." Hussein stammered, sweating as much as a sprinkler. "Hi - I'm Agent Kamal Hussein."

"Pamela. Call me Pam."

He looked at her sheepishly. "Listen, Danny... said there's one more room left in the - uh - Agera R. So... I just thought that - maybe we could travel... you know - together. Not that I have anything for you, I just wanted to feel the experience of being in an Agera. But if you don't want to, it's okay-"

Smooth, Hussein. Real smooth.

Pamela then cuts him off, flipping her curled locks again to the side, looking at him with those cute-looking puppy eyes. "Sure..."

Hussein stood there, deadpanned. "Really?"

"Uh-huh," she replied, nodding with another smile. "I could use some company, as long as I'm in the driver's seat."

"Ooo...kay - I'll see you during mission briefing, then."

"'Kay, see ya..." She waved by only moving her fingers, then looked away in a shy manor, blushing.

I overheard the Thea Sisters talking about him as he walked away. "Awkwaaarrrd..." Paulina commented.

"Awkward, but cute!" Pamela responded, facing her friends.

Cute? Colette thinks not. "CUTE? No, he's MORE than that - he's HOT!" She was right, I saw his muscles popped out of his tight suit.

Back to us, Hussein waltzed back to me. "Phew, I'm glad that worked out well," he said, still sweating by the way.

But me? Danny thinks not, Danny knows not.

I just burst into laughter like a wasted mafia member, shaking my head, facepalming. "Oh man, you were a hot mess! Oh, you should have seen yourself-hehehehe! Gasp, oh man... Phew..."

"Whaddya mean, 'hot mess'? That was good!"

I finally wanted to make him admit. "You sounded like you were asking for a date."

He snapped. "Did not!"

"Did too! It even sounded like more than just wanting to be her traveling buddy..."

"You know what - Okay, fine! I admit it! I like her, OK? Ever since I stepped out of that elevator and saw her beautiful, beautiful face... Don't tell her I said that."

"HAH! I knew it! But seriously. Dude, she's only been in her second year of college. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"I can wait, I'm not expecting anyone. Except Pam... Plus I'm only like two years older than her."

"For an adult who has a career in law enforcement, you're really bad at talking to girls. Lemme show ya how a real guy talks... without sounding like what you did." I marched up to Nicky, who was inspecting her .45 caliber handgun. I began and kept speaking in an Boston accent. "Heyya Nic, I just wanted to ask, are you happy with your car? Do ya want me to make some adjustments or anything?"

She sounded nervous in her reply as she holstered the gun. "No thanks, I'm happy riding in Wraith."

"But 'cha sound nervous. Tell me what's wrong. Is he too flashy? Too loud? Too fast for ya?"

"No, not that. It's just his cockpit, it's too small."

"But you look like you fit perfectly inside, what's da matter wit' dat-" then I finally understood. Wraith's small cockpit space makes her feel... "Oh, I get it now, you're claustrophobic!" She nodded. So I offered a proposal. "Okay then, maybe you'd settle for Diane, the Bugatti Veyron? She's got more legroom for you to stretch out. And she's not reserved or taken, so she's all yours if you want."

"Well, thank you, Danny! Glad there's a mate that understands."

"Always happy to help. Keys are inside her glovebox."

I slowly went back to the agent, overwhelming myself under a pile of pride. "See? She even called me 'mate'. And you... have been beaten by a 13-year old."

"Show off," he commented in response enviously.

"Alright everyone, huddle up!" Geronimo called, standing in front of Pierre. He caught our attention, and we approached him, especially me because I'm a part of the briefing presentation. "Right now, we're planning what route to take to the secret base. Pierre?" he cued.

From under his badge on the radiator grille was a projector, at that moment, flipped open and projected the map of the USA. Everyone felt very much astounded. "Because of the secret location of the last retreat was blown, we made a decision to relocate. Again. Our destination, almost across America, at the middle of the Nevada desert." The map projection zoomed into Nevada.

"Whoa, that's over two thousand miles away! Are you sure that we'll be able to make it there ALIVE?" Hussein questioned while sounding doubtful.

"If we believe that we can and avoid every possible threat, then I do believe we can."

"And the route?" Thea asked.

"We'll move through I-80, the interstate that stretches from here, to Nevada itself," answered Geronimo as Pierre highlited the interstate. "We'll pass a few states along the way, and the journey could take about two days, that is if we travel non-stop."

"What formation will we be using?" asked Hussein again.

Pierre projects a top-down view of our cars on a four-lane highway. "No formation needed, we'll drive at high speed and glide through traffic to make our journey time shorter. The only thing specific about this that I want us to drive in positions. Trap and me in will lead, followed by Danny and Thea. Then the Thea Sisters behind them, then the Wolf Pack, and the rest of the Ghosts at the back."

"Next is our enemy information," I began, taking over the briefing session. "As we all know, except for the Thea Sisters, The Technolgists are hunting me down for the microchip in my head. It's abilities are so deadly, and they were planning to put it inside a weapon of mass destruction they built. They wanted it to orbit the planet above America, and with the chip inside, it gathers dark matter, or the Force as some people know it as, and will fuse it with the radiation from outer space to create a solar flare-like electromagnetic pulse. They will release it on America, rendering everything that relies on electronics useless. Thus, creating anarchy across all over the country."

Paulina raised her paw. "One question, the Force? Isn't that only in Star Wars?" she debated.

"Or is it?" I corrected her. Then I used Telekinesis and picked her up.

"What the? Whoa!" She shrieked. "Danny are you doing that?" she asked while floating in mid-air.

"Yes. As you can all see right now, I'm using Force Telekinesis to lift her in the air," I explained as Paulina maintained to keep herself upward. Then I put her down gently on her paws. "Sorry that I didn't tell you before I did that."

"It's alright," she replied. "It was kinda cool."

I continued. "The initial objective of this chip was to make someone a superhuman that could control anything electronic with only using brainwaves. I can make a random cellphone play a ringtone, which I did to Geronimo's phone," I said as his phone played 'All Of Me'. He shut it down and I continued. "I can generate computer scripts, I can create a computer virus and send it to any computer."

Thea then takes over the briefing session, replacing me. "And now for our enemy details," she started as Pierre projects the image of The Technologists' people. "If we ever make a stop at a gas station and if you see guys in black, all muscular and armed, put everyone on high alert. These are one of the threats that we may face." Pierre then projects the images the enemies vehicles. "Second, if we cruise along the interstate and see any of these black Audis, communicate through the comlinks and inform others of their presence. Those are our enemy's vehicles. And the most dangerous threat that we anticipate is their Black Hawk helicopters. They're armed with Gatling guns and AIM-9 Sidewinders."

Geronimo steps forward and takes over. "And finally before we move out, a little pep talk for all of us." He stood up straight and shot everyone with a serious look. "I just wanted to say that whatever happens, do NOT let Danny fall into their hands, either alive or dead. Note that if we fail, the world could fall apart. It's all in our paws and hands to save it from plunging into total destruction."

Then I thought of something that could boost our fighting spirit. "Alright, everybody give me a loud 'Hoorah' for team spirit. On my one, three, two, one..."

"HOORAH!" Everyone shouted. The sounds of our voices bounced off the walls.

"Operation The Run is a go," Geronimo announced.

We got to our cars, started the V8s and W16s and pulled out of the garage, being cautious at the same time because there might be Metro PD cruisers around the area, trying to catch us ridin' dirty. The camouflage screens needed to cool down after the extensive use in yesterday's chase so they switched back to their original paint jobs. Except for the plates, they stayed. We made it to I-80 a half an hour later without being detected, as sneaky as a mouse.

---

An hour after the beginning of Operation The Run

Day 1

I-80, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 0649 hours

Geronimo decided to record log entries of Operation The Run's progress and send them to the Secretary General. He asked us to assist him or anyone that makes a log entry to correct or give more details to be recorded. He also scheduled for us to record one entry every six hours or in every important incident or event. So I told them that cameras were hidden in the dashboard and physical tachometer in every car. Just to make the SG sure that we were still alive.

LOG ENTRY #1

Geronimo: Log entry number one, by Geronimo Stilton. Time, oh-six hundred forty-nine hours. Location, Interstate 80, south of Indiana County, Pennsylvania. Speed, 125 miles an hour...more or less. It's been almost an hour of driving...(cuts pass a car to the left)...after we left for the destination. We stopped for some food half an hour ago and for a bathroom break at a gas station. The weather is sunny with the atmosphere cold, I had to turn on the heater to avoid hypothermia during the ops. (Veering to the left avoiding a pickup truck) Traffic is not that heavy-

Thea: Not that heavy? Geronimo, it's like I have to pass a car after another! (Chicanes past two cars) I almost ground the passenger window with the left side mirror that time!

Geronimo: Fine, they're in large numbers because most people are out of their homes and on their way to work. Despite that, we're still able to maintain the speed by overtaking the cars like I did a moment ago. And along the trip so far, there has been NO fatal incidents or dangers. That's all I have to report for now. This is Geronimo Stilton...(nearly misses the rear bumper of a hatchback)...over and out.

LOG ENTRY #2

I-80, Wood County, Ohio, 1050 hours

Thea (with an anxious voice): Log entry number two. Time: ten hundred fifty hours. Location: Wood, Ohio, still Interstate 80. Speed: 150 miles an hour. We just escaped a hot pursuit with cop cars from three counties: Huron, Seneca, and Wood just seconds ago. I can still hear the sirens in the distance. The chase was initiated when the car's radio scanners were heard picking up transmissions from police dispatch informing officers in the Interstate area of a 911 call made to report us. The civilian who made the report must've recognized us from Metro PD's APB they put out. It took a while for us to escape, the cars were hogging the roads and slowed us down. For that, we were forced to overtake in the emergency lane. Just now, when the road was clear, we just floored it and left them in the dust. Nothing else happened before that, and so, this is Thea Stilton, signing out. How'd I do, Danny?

Danny: Flawless...

LOG ENTRY #3

I-80, Newton County, Indiana, entering Illinois, 1940 hours

Hussein: Hello? Is this thing on? (Cracking sounds from him blowing into mic)

Pamela: I think it's on, Hussein.

Hussein: How can you tell?

Pamela: The red button you pressed is flashing and the screen is showing that the wavy lines are moving.

Hussein: I don't know, it seems like its not recording-

Hussein's Teammate #1: Oh for the love of - would you just get on with it already?

Hussein: Alright! Alright! Sheesh... This is Kamal Hussein, recording log entry number four. Time: nineteen hundred forty hours. Location: north of Newton County, Indiana. Speed: 126 miles an hour. We just resumed our road trip after a short rest at a truck stop, had a bathroom break, bought some more food and changed clothes that we brought in our overnight bags. The sun is about to set, and we are enjoying the beautiful twilight as we drive. The roads are clear with just a car or two, and it surprises me that Pam here knows how to drive really well. She's been piloting the Agera for six hours straight while I just sit next to her, admiring her skills...

Pamela: Oh, stop it, you! You're making me blush!

Hussein: Heheh... Anyway, we're near the state border and about to cross it into Cook, Illinois. And there's the 'Welcome to Illinois' sign...(drives past the sign)...and now we're in Illinois. As always, there's been no signs of danger so far, but we'll keep our eyes open. Is there...uh...anything else anyone would like to add?

Danny: We're all good here...

Hussein: Okay... I guess that's all I have to report for now. This is Agent Kamal Hussein, signing out.

LOG ENTRY #4

Day 2, Saturday, August 25, 2013

I-80, Shelby, Iowa, 0014 hours

Danny (Careless Whisper playing in background): Log entry number four, recorded by Danial Arif. Time: double zero fourteen hours. Location: Shelby, Iowa. Speed: constant at 130 miles an hour. Nothing's pretty much happening around here. We stopped at Iowa 80 a few hours ago for a potty break, got back on track half an hour later. The interstate is empty with almost no cars on the road, because most people in the county are at home, asleep. And speaking of sleep, I turned on the neons I installed in the interior's upholstery, and now everyone's pretty much asleep, including Thea. The drivers who are resting activated the autopilot function as they rejuvenate. The only ones awake right now are me, Nicky, and Pam the last I checked. The two girls may have already fallen into a slumber, but I'll check just in case. Pam! Nic! Are you girls there? Are you awake?

Nicky (in a tired and sleepy voice): I'm still up...yawn...though I'm feeling really drowsy.

Pamela: I'm up too...maybe for another couple of hours.

Danny: There you have it, they're still awake. Anyway, like the last three recordings, there's been no threats so far, so we'll be alright. This is Danial Arif, saying goodnight, and signing out. I'm never gonna dance again...

LOG ENTRY #5

I-80, Lincoln County, Nebraska, 0602 hours

Pandora: Log entry number five, recorded by Pandora Woz at oh-six hundred two hours. Location: Lincoln County, Nebraska. Speed: 125 miles an hour. Just recently, about a few minutes ago, we stopped a robbery in progress while we were taking a break to stretch out. G, tell us the details.

Geronimo: Indeed. I was in the convenience store buying a bottle of mineral water while the others stretched out and went to change clothes in the bathroom. When the cashier announced the price when I went to pay, which was $91.10, I was really dumbfounded. But what he was trying to tell me was when he covered up the zero on the register, showing 911. I then figured out what he tried to say: get help. He signaled that the robber was hiding under the counter. I showed him my shield, and tried to pull out my gun...when an accomplice stalked me from behind and held me at gunpoint, directly aiming at my head.

Hussein (driving): I saw the crime in progress when I got out of the restroom after changing clothes. Everyone outside was acting all weird and anxious while looking at the convenience store. So I peered through the window, seeing Geronimo being taken hostage. That was my time to act. I rushed to my car to grab my Bushmaster ACR from under the passenger seat. Then I rushed back, entering the store stealthily. Then I held the criminal at gunpoint, ordering him to stand down. He instead swung his gun at me, luckily dodging it. Distracted, the felon was sweep-kicked down to the ground, getting cuffed right after. Out of nowhere, another robber came up from behind the counter, about to shoot. I was quickly aware, aimed at him and planted three rounds inside his abdomen.

Pandora: There you go, Mr. Secretary General. There were no incidents after that, so I have to say that that's all we have to report for now. I'm Pandora Woz, signing out.

---

The Gas Station Dilemma

It was 5.45 in the morning, the sun was up, the sunlight that shone over us stimulated the bionic retinas in my eyeballs that starved light for the past six hours. I was up all night, discussing with my co-developers of my video game, Fields Of Battle 2, over Facebook. This time, through a secure connection. I was finally done when it was 5 a.m., and played some Grand Theft Auto IV. Then I really had to go use 'it', so I had Pierre to locate the nearest gas station along the highway. Which was, for another two and a half miles.

I can tell that the newborn sun was effectively making Thea awake, telling by the way she made her her fair violet eyelids shut even tighter until she frowned, as the rays shone onto her snout. Though she refused to and resisted the urge to wake up, she let out slow and tired groan, rolling ahead of her squeaks as she spoke sotto voce, "Who turned on the sun?" She gently rubbed her barely-opened eyes, yawning. (She was just like her brother, not much of a morning mouse.)

"Good morning, sunshine," I responded, listening to the intro of Green Day's '21 Guns' as I stared at the road.

She scratched her head furry head. "What time is it?"

"It's three quarters past five in the morning," I answered, looking at the analogue clock on the middle console.

The stereo filled the cockpit with more lyrics of the song, replacing the silence. "I had the strangest dream."

"What was it about?"

She explained quickly and briefly. "Let me start from the beginning. We were at a restaurant, no, a pizza parlor somewhere in New Mouse City. We were talking, talking, talking... Then the waiter came to take our order. He didn't look like a mouse, in fact, he was human! A grown man! I looked at his face, then I tried recalling where have I seen him before. Then when you looked at him to order up, you recoiled, stood up and froze, looking at him in confusion. He stared at you and you stared back, then he said, 'Hi, son.' Then I saw the sparkle in your eyes, tears. They flowed down your face, then you looked on the floor and said, 'Three years...you've abandoned me for three whole years and then you just show up out of nowhere and say 'hi'?' I still didn't get why you said it until you continued while looking back at him, 'Where have you been all this time...dad?'"

I could tell that this was some kind of sign. I frowned and gazed blankly at the dashboard, wondering.

Before I could even respond, Pierre cut in on us and told where the next gas station was. "In four hundred yards, turn right." Thea readjusted the way she was sitting, put her hind paws on the gas and returned her forepaws on the wheel, disabling the autopilot.

We were reaching the gas station, Thea let her paw off of the gas pedal, and readied it on the brakes. By then, everyone was awake. I heard them groan, yawn and asking about the time. In about ten seconds later, Thea slowly kicked the brakes as Pierre entered the gas station area. The other cars followed, and Thea parked the Bugatti near the restrooms, slightly jolting our heads forward as we came to a halt.

Every man and mouse stepped out of their respective vehicles, stretching out and some going to the restrooms to change cloths and or use the bathroom. As I cracked my knuckles and leaning forward, I saw a car, a black '69 Pontiac GTO, near the convenience store. There was a driver in a black hoodie, aging about early 20s, but he seemed to be waiting for someone or something. I felt that something was wrong. But alas... I ignored it and jogged straight for the men's room.

Meanwhile, Benjamin complained that we was thirsty. "Man, I'm thirsty."

"Do we still have water inside the car?" his uncle wondered.

"There's none left. We finished our last bottle last night," Benjamin replied with a shrug.

"Stay put. I'll go get some from the convenience store." Benjamin hoped back inside Colette and shut the door, while Geronimo scampered to the store to buy a bottle of water.

He strolled to the back of the store when he was inside, grabbing the see-through fridge's handle and flung the door open, nabbing the neck of the first bottle he saw from the rack. He then ambled his way to the counter to pay for the cold drink, and took out his wallet.

"That'll be ninety-one ten," said the male cashier, looking edgy and trembling as he announced the price.

He was dumbfounded. "Ridiculous!" he objected, feeling exasperated. "Ninety-one dollars? For a large bottle of mineral water?" What he didn't know from the price was a message. The mid-20s cashier covered the 'zero' on the display of the register with his finger, making more sense as it only displayed: 911. He figured out what he was trying to tell the Interpol agent...

Get help.

He knew that there was something wrong, by the way the shaken man in the Shell uniform signaled his finger downwards, saying that there's someone under the counter. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," he responded, acting natural to not alarm the felon. He showed his badge that was tucked under the jacket of his black suit and put a finger on his lips, signaling him to keep quiet. Then, he took out his gun.

Or at least tried to.

He heard a clicking sound near his ear, almost sounding like a guns hammer being thumbed down, and froze upon that. He turned his head slowly, canceling the decision to un-holster his SIG. He heard a scratchy voice saying, "Hands up, and don't try to do anything funny." He finished turning around with his hands up, seeing the muzzle of a Beretta 92 pointed directly at his snout by the man waiting in the '69 GTO. He was an accomplice.

Geronimo put a smirk. Then the sound of a priming rifle came from behind the crook. "Put it down, son," ordered a familiar voice in an American accent.

It was Agent Hussein, aiming his desert-tanned Bushmaster ACR to the head of the crook, wearing casual. "We don't want any bloodshed happening around here, so why don't you just be cool and put the Beretta down?"

Unexpectedly, the crook disobeyed the orders and swung his gun into Hussein's face. Thanks to his ninja-like reflexes, he dodged the attack by leaning back. Distracted, Geronimo sweeped-kicked the crook while he was caught off-guard, making him fall hard on the ground.

Then what came out of under the counter was really something they didn't bargain for. The second crook pushed the cashier away, making him fall and pointed his M1911 pistol on either law enforcement agents. Luckily, Hussein's reflexes once again saved him by telling him to pull the trigger, firing three rounds into his abdomen.

Geronimo was still cuffing up the first crook, struggling with his hands as he squirmed to get free. "You...are under arrest, for armed robbery!" He finished cuffing the felon, and made him sit down, cross-legged. Sirens in the horizon were heard, emitting from Lincoln County police cars, entering the premises of the gas station. Looked like the bystanders that were here after us called them when they saw the robbery in progress.

"We gotta move, NOW!" Hussein suggested harshly, running out the store. Geronimo even took the time to leave a sum of cash on the counter and grabbed the bottle of cold mineral water from the counter, running out after.

The others and I were aware of the fuzz's presence and dashed into the cars, waiting for Hussein and Geronimo. They were seen rushing out of the store, with Geronimo holding a bottle of water. Hussein got into Phantom's passengers seat and pulled the door shut. Geronimo slid over Colette's hood and jumped into her driver's seat. We reversed out of the scene. Geronimo couldn't even closed the door before Colette started reversing hurriedly. We took off while applying nitrous to make a fast escape, but that did no good for the Ghosts because it only spun their rear wheels. Soon, we were back on track to make up for the lost time.

"That was close! They missed us by a whisker," Thea summarized.

"You don't have whiskers, Thea," I emphasized.

"I know, just making an expression."

---

Nye County, Nevada, 1525 hours

Nevada. Felt to me like the hottest state in the US. The sun was blazing, no trees or clouds around, just miles and miles of sand, stone, and cacti. As we drove on the loneliest highway on Earth, I felt the heated light from the desert sun burn my skin. For that, I turned on the dark window tints to prevent skin irritation.

We came across a gas station a few hundred miles later. We stopped to buy more food, and to use the bathroom.

We parked our cars on one spot, which was near the restrooms, as the gas station was really large and was able to accommodate all our vehicles.

I got out of Pierre after Thea applied the handbrake, stretched out, letting out a relieved 'argh'. "Argh! Me achin' back..." I said with my authentic Scottish accent. "I'll be in the bathroom, emptying me bladder if you need me."

I wended my way to the restrooms with Hussein and Benjamin while the rest either stayed behind our went to buy food at the convenience store.

"Phew! That was relieving," I shouted once we stepped out of the men's room.

"But now, I'm feeling kinda hungry," Benjamin complained.

"Me too," Hussein agreed.

"Same goes for me," I added.

"Wanna go get some grub?" Hussein suggested. My mouth was already watering from seeing the food inside the store.

"Sounds perfect!" Benjamin and I replied simultaneously.

---

Thea's Perspective

I gazed at the three, scampering into the store as I took a bite from my chicken ham and cheese sandwich inside Pierre. Then at the precise moment when they stepped in through the glass doors, a convoy of 16 Audis, all of them painted in metallic black, drove into the other side if the gas station. Technically speaking, there were at least four RS6, four RS7, four S8s, and four R8s. To make matters worse, they were packed with people. Four in every sedan, two in every coupe. I know we were in big, no, HUGE trouble.

I swallowed my chewed food ahead of my words, saying, "Cheesballs!" I was stunned, but I was NOT panicking. I acted fast and called Danny. "Pierre! Contact Danny!"

"Yes Agent Stilton," he replied. He patched his comlink signal with Danny's chip.

I alerted him and the others, looking at them through the glass. "Danny, enemy alert! GET OUT OF THERE THROUGH THE BACK DOOR, NOW!"

---

My Perspective

I saw them when Thea alerted me. "Oh, shoot!" I whispered, ducking under the counter with the others for cover.

"Where are we supposed to go?" asked Benjamin.

"The back door. C'mon, hide behind the shelves," I answered, starting to move towards the rear exit.

We made it out of the building, going around the scums. Just when we were about to make our escape, at the worst moment possible, one of the enemies came out of the loo from behind us and spotted us.

"Shit-!" Exclaimed Hussein, as we made a left and started running.

We rushed and jumped into our cars. Literally. "Pierre! Sunroof!" He opened it and left a gaping hole on the roof. I Force Jumped, went through his sunroof and landed safely in my seat, sitting.

Thea was just done putting the gearstick into reverse, when The Technologists' men pulled out their rifles and started shooting at us. "Reverse, reverse, reverse, reverse, REVERSE!" I commanded dissonantly as a spray of full metal jacket rounds ricocheted off from the bulletproof Betagel windows.

She stepped on the gas and our heads jolted to the front as the orange wheels spun backwards and drove the bodywork to outside of the station. As the others have positioned themselves behind us just before the station, she puts Pierre back into Sport Driving and shifted to first, redlining as we drove forward while she applied nitrous, leaving the scene and some rubber smoke as the rest followed from behind.

"How'd they track us down?!" I said coarsely, looking back.

She then shifts into third as the gauge climbed to 140 miles an hour before her answer. "Danny, what's that on your back?"

I turned back, looking at her wit a frown. "What?"

She reached for the back of my neck an peeled something off of it. "This," she said, showing me the object while she turned her attention to the road. It was a small and circular metal object, flashing red light in the middle.

I took some time to scan its internals and analyzed it. It turned out to be a tracking device. "It's a bug. A tracking device." Feeling the anger taking over me, I crushed the bug with my fingers.

Thea then upshifts to fourth. "How'd you get it?"

It hit me in the face, I recalled from my memory when Firas and I hugged goodbye, flashing back into the past. "That no-good snake in the grass, Firas. He bugged me when we hugged each other goodbye."

My guardian/friend looked into the rear view mirror, hoping the enemy doesn't start a chase. "Rotten cheese! They're after us!"

I looked into the side mirror, and saw the black Audis behind the Ghosts. "How far are they behind us, Pierre?"

"A hundred meters and closing, sir."

"PUNCH IT THEA!" She kicked the gas hard and accelerated.

Pierre chimed in on our 'conversation' with an alerting beep. "Sir, traffic jam at one mile ahead!"

"Damn!" I exclaimed, thrusting my head forward in frustration. "How? This was supposed to be the world's loneliest highway!"

"Last minute summer gambling trips to Las Vegas would explain this, sir."

"What now? The roads must be packed with cars!" Thea stated.

"Alternative route suggested. Pinned as 'ProStreet Speed Challenge route'. Half a mile ahead, leading directly to secret base."

Another voice butt in, it was Benjamin, through the comlink. "Why is it called the 'ProStreet Speed Challenge route?"

"Because...the Nevada Highway speed tracks in Need For Speed ProStreet are modeled after the route we're about to take. It abandoned, but still open for traffic."

"In four hundred yards, take the next exit," interrupted Pierre.

We saw the exit a few seconds later, and went for it, heading to the left, going on top of an overpass, into a rocky valley. "We can't let 'em know about the base!" I said. My emotions made me turn on 'My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark' on the stereo for feeling.

"The only way to do that is to immobilized them," Thea suggested.

Then another voice chimed in through the comlink. This time, it was Hussein. "Bad news guys, they're coming out of their windows in threes, AND WITH GUNS!"

"Phantom has hidden turrets, ask him to deploy them!" I shouted into the comlink mic.

I heard the gunshots coming from behind, and one of the rounds hit Pierre body work, right at the rear windscreen in the engine bay. "THAT'S IT! IT'S RUN AND GUN TIME!" I snapped. The keyboard and mouse from the roof of the glovebox popped out and a holographic screen appeared in front of me. It was empty until the four hidden carbon fiber miniguns popped out of the fenders, with the front turrets rotating to the back. Then it showed me the feed from mounted cameras on the guns. Then, crosshairs in four appeared, locking onto four targets. Finally, the barrels spun, ready to raise hell by firing about 6000 by 4 rounds a minute to them.

The crosshairs turned from yellow to red, not allowing me to fire because the targets were blocked by one of us. "I can't shoot, I'm blocked."

"You can't, but I can!" said Hussein with confidence. He and Pamela was second last, giving him an advantage to shoot.

"I can shoot too, I'm in third last!" said one of Hussein's teammates.

Soon, all of the Wolf Pack volunteered to man the turrets.

"Not yet! Wait till I say so!" I wanted to make them crash into the rocky terrains of the unused highway.

We were about to enter course A at a constant 217 miles an hour and the lanes started splitting from one lane to four lanes, two for each way of traffic. Three Bugatti's and one Ghost formed a defense wall on all four lanes behind us so that no Technologist car could pass.

"Entering Nevada speed course A in 3, 2, 1..." We crossed where EA put the starting line on the highway (easier for past players to remember), just in time for the chorus of the song to begin.

"BLOW 'EM UP, BOYS!"

They clicked on their mouses, unleashing hell like no one has ever seen before. I remotely accessed the feed on his turret cams, seeing the black Audis dodge the bullets by snaking on the road from side to side.

Not for one second, the highway narrowed from four to three, and from three to two lanes as we passed a hill on the right side, turning to the right. The defensive wall was forced to break up, drafting behind Pierre.

Pierre gave us a warning as we drove in a valley. "Double caution! Crest ahead! Potential jump, in 2 seconds!"

"Everyone copy?" I asked the convoy, ensuring that they got the warning.

"So much for putting on my lipstick," said Colette disagreeably, being the only looks-sensible rodent in the convoy.

We strapped in, getting ready for the jump. "Brace!" I warned just before. We hit the crest, catching air under a tall and huge billboard that stretched across the road for 0.9 seconds. We landed hard with our heads shaking violently as the Sport Mode suspension setting made the absorbers to stiff up. Sparks came from under the undercarriage, from it scraping against the road.

I looked in the mirror, seeing one of the four RS7s not sticking the landing very well. The rear end bounced, flipping the car on its roof vertically. I had to assume that the rear shocks' rebound rate was so stiff that it made the car...well...it doesn't matter anyway. The only thing that mattered then is that one of their cars were down.

I wondered how everyone was doing after the jump. "How's everyone doing?"

"We're alright!" Violet reported, piloting Banshee.

"I'm fine!" Both Nicky and Paulina replied.

"We're okay!" Pam responded as her partner shot a few hundred more rounds to the enemy vehicles.

"We're fine right here," said Trap.

We maneuvered through a chicane, slightly turning left, then right into a wide valley. Then I noticed that the only group who didn't report in was Geronimo's. "G? Are you alright? Geronimo? Do you copy?"

An answer from his nephew verified that they were. "We're safe and sound. Uncle G's still shaken from the jump and speed."

"To be honest, I think I'm not cut out for this sort of driving!" He said with a trembling voice.

As we tackled the chicane, we drove past a hill with bumpy terrain on the right side as well as some road signs and wooden electrical poles on either side. We had to be cautious.

We entered another chicane, this time, extra cautious because the valley at the turns had huge boulders on both sides. "Everyone tidy into the valley cautiously!" Thea commanded. Everyone understood her rally language, and executed the turns.

One of the four RS6s attempted to slingshot past Phantom at the left in the valley during the chicane, but denied by Pamela. "Not on my watch!" She said to herself. She nudged and grinds the car veering left, and the RS6 met a horrible fate.

The car crashed into the large boulder, flew in the air and nearly missed the roof of an R8 at the back of the pack before it landed. "Good job, Pam! Two down!" I praised.

We entered a short straight, with another short air time spot. No dice, none of the Technologists cars didn't suffer the same fate as the RS7.

We took a long easy right into a four lane straight with three crests. We stuck on the road like glue on the first, flew in a second of air time at the second crest, and went over the third one into a not-so-sharp chicane, back into a straight.

We were just a quarter of the course away to completing Nevada A. All we had to drive past left is the two long banked u-turns at the end.

Then the inevitable happened. The weapons systems were down. "Sir, we've been jammed! All weapon systems have been disabled! They won't be online for 20 minutes," Pierre alarmed. The Technologists came sticking their bodies out of the windows with guns and opened fire.

"Those scoundrels!" Exclaimed Violet as she maneuvered through the straight.

"Though the defense systems are still intact and fully functional," Pierre informed.

"Ghosts! Are your roofjets online?" I asked.

"They are and not affected by the jammer," Phantom replied.

"Deploy them and see what's up front. We need some eyes in the sky. If nothing, turn back and provide an air strike!" Then I advise the ones piloting the Ghosts. "Drivers and passengers in the Ghosts! Caution! your vehicles will blow their roofs off. Keep yourself buckled in at ALL TIMES!"

"Deploying roofjets," said the Ghosts. With each targa top ejected and emitted sonic booms, they flew ahead of us. They reported nothing, and turned back.

"Caution! Rocky terrain on left," alerted Pierre as we entered the first u-turn."

The jets loop-de-looped to behind the enemy cars and launched every single pod rocket they got as we exited the first right u-turn. Some dodged the rockets (missing them by a hair), while three were struck at the fuel tank in the back, exploding into a blaze of white fire as the body panels were made of magnesium. In addition to that, they flipped the same way as the RS6.

We were halfway through the second banked left turn in between two tall hills, about to enter Nevada B.

"No rockets left, sir! We can only provide reconnaissance from here on out," Phantom said.

"No weapons, no tactics, we've got nothing!" Benjamin said, doubting our chances of success.

"I've got an idea. Danny, you take the wheel!" Thea ordered.

"HUH?" I responded in disbelief.

"You said that you can drive, right?"

"I can! But what are you gonna do?"

"Something crazy..." She enabled autopilot and took out her SCAR from under her seat, cocking it. "Pierre! Open the sunroof!" Pierre opened the tinted glass, and Thea unbuckled her seatbelt. "Time to get some battle-SCARs...hehe...geddit?" I got the pun and chuckled. "Wish me luck..." She then climbs her way up and sticks half of her body outside.

She kneeled, one leg on the console, the other on the seat. The wind blew her fur and ears, making it hard for her to settle. Meanwhile, I struggled to switch seats, avoiding the gearstick and Thea's leg as I climbed the console. I finally sat comfortably, buckled up, and got ready to disable autopilot. I breathed in, then out, and got hold of the wheel. I was driving, speedily and felt the rush of adrenalin pumping in my veins. "Hold him steady!" Thea advised, taking aim.

I put on a courageous smile, feeling happy to drive again. We finished Nevada A, crossing the start of Nevada B. I saw and heard Thea shooting at the enemy with precision, skill, and full of accuracy. Every lead projectile that left the barrel hit the enemy, condemning them slowly. She managed to headshot the driver in one of the S8s, making the car go off course, and hit an electrical pole at the side of the road. I felt proud. "That's it Thea! Keep shooting!" I praised. She and The Technologists exchanged fire.

The others wanted to try as well, the way they suggested it to each other through the comlink. "Look! Thea took out one of them!" Exclaimed Pamela.

"Let's do the same!" Nicky said.

"Are you sure we can do this?" Colette wondered.

"Hey, Thea can do it. Why can't we?" Violet replied, slapping some sense into her friend.

The French rodent thought about it, and agreed. "For Thea..."

"Before you do that, you might want to hang on," I advised. "We're approaching another jump, this time, we're gonna catch some big air!" Thea overheard and got back in. She sat in the passenger seat, buckling up.

We went up the incline at 218 miles an hour. I wanted to show off, so I swerved at the last minute of the climb. As a result, I pulled off a few flat spins as we went airborne as high as a truck and again landed hard, scraping the undercarriage like recently. I managed to pull out of the flat spin, speeding forward.

"ARE YOU A MANIAC?" Thea shouted

"I know I am! And that is why Brock Russell lost the world's greatest young driver title to me!"

"Ugh... Alright Sisters, Wolf Pack. LET'S LIGHT 'EM UP!" She climbed out again, this time, she got the help she needed. The Stiltons and a Woz joined in, Anton and Colette (the Bugatti) popped their glass targa tops, leaving them behind. Everyone got ahold of their rifles, activated autopilot, peered back and opened fire, in time for the second and final chorus.

My songs know what you did in the dark! (Everyone locking and loading)

(My songs know what you did in the dark!) (peering back, taking aim in slow motion)

So light 'em up, up, up (opening fire)

Light 'em up, up, up

Light 'em up, up, up (Colette (mouse) shoots driver of R8)

I'm on fiya! (R8 goes off the road, rams a road sign, car wreck gets rammed by 3 cars)

So light 'em up, up, up (Paulina shoots right tire of RS7, veering to bumpy sides of hill)

Light 'em up, up, up

Light 'em up, up, up

I'm on fiya! (Car flips across road, rolls, taking out 5 cars)

Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa!

In the dark, dark! (Benjamin shoots windshield, takes out 5 cars in a chain reaction)

Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa!

In the dark, dark! (Thea becomes sniper, shoots driver's head of final car)

Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa!

I couldn't express how the victory felt like when the final car slowed down. I felt the pride inside me towards her growing.

I was happy and relieved, I felt like shouting. "HELL YEAH BABY! THAT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" To celebrate, I reached my hand up so Thea could high-five it.

I heard the cheers and screams of joy through the comlink as Thea high-fived me. "Did you see that shot?" Thea said, high-fiving me.

"I did! I really gotta hand-paw it to ya, Thea. That's one heck of an eye you've got there!" I commented as everyone sat back in and buckled up.

"You're no different! You drove like Sebastian Vettel!"

"That was nothing! Seriously!"

We calmed down and decelerated to 130 miles an hour, taking the trip slow and steady like before.

Just when we thought everything was over...

God, we could have never been any more wrong.

We approached an empty four-lane straight, widened, surrounded by a cactus patch. We scattered ourselves randomly on the road. As the roofjets circled the area for recon, they picked up something. "Sir, our roofjets are picking up a signal on our radar, closing in on our five o'clock, fast," Phantom reported.

"Distance and speed?" I asked as I kept Pierre steady at the center of the road.

"Hundred and fifty-eight knots in one klick."

I took a second of silence to find out what I've been hearing for the past minute. "Something's not right, we've missed something." Out of the tensity I felt, I thought of turning on 'Through The Gates' by Celldweller on the stereo. (Asphalt 8 players maybe aware of what song it is.)

"What do you mean? We already took 'em out, what's to miss?" Asked Thea.

"I've been hearing swooshing with my enhanced hearing for the past minute. Coming from the stated direction."

"Maybe I can check what it is," volunteered Geronimo.

"Go ahead," I permitted.

"Benjamin, do you still have that 22x zoom sniper scope with you?"

"Yeah."

"Can I borrow it for one second?"

"Sure..." He opened up the glove box and reached for it. Then he paws it to his uncle.

The rodent turned his body towards his five o' clock. He crouched with his right leg extended to support his forearm as he holds the scope and looks through it. The intro of the song was beginning.

At first, the only thing he saw was an unfocused black dot. Coming from it was the swooshing sound. "Whaddya see?" I asked.

"Hold on, I'm trying to get it to focus," he replied, adjusting the focus rate knob.

It came closer, and the swooshing became louder. "Any visual, Geronimo?" Hussein asked.

"Not yet," he reported again, still turning the knob to make it focus.

As the suspense in the desert air intensified, the intro almost ended, reaching the verse. He then gets a little out of the dot, blades from a helicopter rotor, spinning. "I'm getting a visual, looks like an aircraft." He focused it even more, as the drums and the guitar riff in the verse started playing. Then he made out the image, making our worst nightmare come true.

"Great Gouda," he exclaimed. "What's an Apache doing out here in the open desert?" The console and grabbed his

"It's all jet black according to my eyes. That ain't Air Force colors," Hussein indicated. Then,

"Ready your weapons everyone! We're about to have another battle!" He set the scope down at the console and grabbed his M4 CQB from his side, aiming for the helicopter. The others did the same. Thea struggled to climb out, but she managed to do it anyway.

They waited in anticipation, waiting for the heli to arrive. It did in a matter of seconds. Right as the intense part of the verse played, the attack helicopter hovered behind us just a few feet over the road and fired high explosive incendiary rounds out of its M230 chain gun, destroying parts of the road.

"TAKE IT DOWN!" Geronimo yelled, as I heard through the comlink.

They and the enemy aircraft exchanged fire, while the autopilot and I swerved side to side, dodging the rounds. They tried in vain, as none of the shots inflicted any damage on the chopper.

Not for two minutes the firefight started, the helicopter already ran out of ammo from its chain gun, switching to its AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

"WATCH OUT FOR MISSILES!" I warned. The more intense chorus played, the choir sang and the heli fire one of its missiles to the Wolf Pack and the Ghosts, miraculously dodged it and nearly misses it by a microbe, destroying the road, shaking the ground.

They continued to return fire in between the interval of the chopper firing the next Hellfire. Shots and shell ejections sounded right in front of Geronimo's squeaks of motivation. "DON'T STOP! DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO BRING IT DOWN!"

Just after his speech, the Apache locks onto Diane and her pilot or gunner, Nicky and fires another missile. It hit the road just near the right door and left a crater on the highway. "This is definitely much worse than Hawaii!" Nicky yelled.

Phantom drives next to Diane, with Pamela replying: "Ya think?"

The Apache fired it's next missile as the choir of the song sang. This time, locking onto Pierre. "Shoot!" I exclaimed, twisting the wheel to the right, as the Hellfire destroyed the road at the left. I snapped when it attacked my most precious car. "THAT'S IT! PIERRE, AUTOPILOT!" I commanded. I let go of the wheel and banged on the dashboard on the passenger side, reveling my secret weapon inside it.

A short version of the Russian RPG-7 rocket launcher with its warhead separated.

I held the rear grip with my right hand, and the warhead at the left. Then I unbuckled my belt, then climbed up.

Outside, the attack aircraft fired another missile, locked on Banshee. "Move aside Thea!" I said.

She moved aside and looked at me with the rocket launcher with full of shock. "What in the name of cheese?!" She exclaimed.

"Geronimo did say whatever it takes!" I replied, assembling the warhead with the launcher.

I put the launcher on my shoulder and thumbed the hammer on the front left-handed grip. "You messed with the bull, NOW YOU GET THE HORNS!"

I pulled the trigger, releasing the rocket-propelled grenade to the Apache while leaving a trail of black smoke behind. The rocket struck the nose of the aircraft head to head, exploding it into fiery ball of wreckage, synchronized with the song's ending, making it feel more epic. The explosion rocked our convoy, as well as it crashed to the ground.

"BOOM, BABEH!" I shouted in victory.

"You had that all this time and you didn't tell me?" Geronimo shouted from inside Colette.

"Should I?" I shouted back, feeling like I'm in trouble.

"You should have, so we could have blew it up earlier," Hussein agreed to his fellow colleague's point.

"Now that's settled, let's just speed through so we don't bump into anymore threats," Thea suggested, as she went back inside. I followed, and buckled up. Thea permitted me to drive the rest of the way, so the others had to catch up (I drive really fast).

We fled the scene with no serious damage taken, with only the loss of the two Bugatti's roofs at the cost of fighting. We finished the course a minute later, entering back to I-80, cutting the traffic jam.

---

Off of I-80, Nye County, Nevada. 1550 hours

It was twenty minutes after we finished Nevada B. We were driving normal again on I-80, maintaining speed and chilled in the air-conditioned cockpit as the Nevada sun blazed over the desert. Poor occupants of Anton and Colette, they suffered the heat as the roofs that were blown off and left behind during the moving standoff. As for the Ghosts, their roofs reunited with their respectful cars, shading their passengers.

We drove along the part of the flat desert land, not like the abandoned highway. I kept driving as Thea and I ate a bag of cheese-flavored corn chips. "How much further are we to the base, Pierre?" Thea asked, munching on a corn chip.

"Hope it's...crackle...far, we're frying...crackle...eggs out here," Benjamin interrupted, with the wind blowing into the mic.

I really thought that he was frying eggs back there. So I asked for reconfirmation. "You hope that it's far and you're frying eggs back there?"

Thea asked again. "Benjamin, could you repeat that? We didn't quite copy."

"I said: I hope it isn't far, we're frying like eggs out here!" answered Benjamin, shouting into the mic.

Colette was instead to answer him and his aunt. "Don't you worry, my dear Benjamin. We're almost there."

"In three hundred yards, turn right and go off-road," informed Pierre.

"This is it, people! Get ready and switch to Desert Mode!" I told the convoy through the comlink.

"Turn right." That was our signal, we veered right to the sand and turned on desert mode. The Michelin slicks retreaded to spiky sand patterns, the suspension softened, and the ride height increased by 25 millimeters with the help of the active hydraulic suspension system.

"Tunnel entrance at one klick away," said Pierre.

"Are about to catch air again? If we are, I think I'm about to..." Geronimo said, sounding nauseous. He barfed in his mouth and swallowed it back down. "I think I'll throw up."

"We're not, the ramp is jump compensated. Don't worry," I ensured.

"Oh, thank Gouda..."

We approached the entrance that was camouflaged as a part of the desert. It slid open, side to side. We drove on the curved ramp, paved out of Tarmac and entered the one-lane tunnel.

"Welcome to my base!" I greeted as we slowed down to a road with parking spots on the left side. In front of it was a a long glass wall, stretching along the spaces, overlooking my lair. The walls were decorated with cave crystals, and most people focused on the central computer at the middle of the lair, made up of a bunch of screens, mounted on the wall. Not to mention the whole area was as large as a soccer pitch and the walls are as tall as a small two-story house.

I and the others shut of our cars engines and got out, immediately taking out our luggage. "I thought your secret retreat estate was the best home I've ever seen yet, but I stand corrected," said Thea who took her bag and shut the hood.

The feeling spread to everyone else. Especially Colette, who thought that the hideout was luxurious. As for Benjamin, Geronimo, Trap, and Pandora, they felt so relieved after feeling the cool air from the air-conditioners.

The glass wall was built about a car-length's deeper into the lair, to accommodate stairs to the lair at the beginning of the wall. I invited every man and mouse inside. "Please, make yourselves at home," I said, stepping down the stairs. I pointed everything out like I did at my retreat estate. "That's the central supercomputer, at the left of it are the men's rooms, and at the right are the girls' rooms. That's the break space, the games' space with a pool table, the semi-enclosed living room, next to it is an open kitchen with a counter and a dinner table, and that turntable in the middle space right there is for holographic projections of cars, for show. There are lots of other rooms but I am as you already might now too lazy too mention them all. J-Son, my smart home system will assist you if you ever get lost in the corridors leading to the rooms."

"I got dibs on the biggest room!" said Hussein childishly, racing for the men's rooms with his teammates.

"You girls go settle in first, I'm just gonna go sit down," Thea insisted to her students.

The rest of us went to relax and unwind at the living room. "It's been a hell of a day, don't you all think?" I said as we all sat down in my white Italian leather couch.

"Yeah, I'm beat," Thea agreed.

"I feel like sleeping for a month," said Trap.

"For once, I agree with you, Trap," Geronimo added.

"I don't know about all of you, but I'm hungry, again," interrupted Benjamin.

"There some cheese in the kitchen, go check 'em out." The mouselet got up and invited his friend, Pandora and scampered to the kitchen.

"Let's just hope that they don't find us this time," I summarized.

"But we shouldn't underestimate them. They're unpredictable," said Geronimo.

"Yeah, who knows what they'll do this time..." Thea added.

"But now, let's just relax," I continued.

"Way ahead of you, Danny," replied Trap.

We enjoyed of what was left of our day, and slept through it. Now if you all don't mind, I myself will relax, and see you in the next chapter.