Hey all! I've been toying with this story idea for a while, but since I can't let it rest, I had to post it. Here are some points before we get started (bear with me!).

1. This is a story about Deckard Shaw and the Shaw family. If you're looking for a story about Dom and the others, this isn't it. Dom and Brian are mentioned, of course, but I'm referring to them as Toretto and O'Conner for the first while as that is how Deckard refers to them (I explain more about that in the story).

2. I have gone over the timeline for the Fast series and still feel boggled and confused by it and the inconsistencies and plot holes it lists, so here is what I'm going by. They say Furious 7 was in 2014, so I'm sticking with that, and I'm putting Fast 8 right after it in early 2015 because that's the only way I can make sense that Dom's child is that young when he meets him (I have no idea why they made Jack O'Conner much older than he should have been...plot hole I guess). It also fits with Brixton "dying" in September 2014 because Deckard couldn't "kill" him when he was in jail after the events of Furious 7. That being said, if Brixton joining Eteon and trying to kill Deckard happened eight years prior to events of Hobbs & Shaw and Brixton "died" in 2014 like it showed on the film, then I'm going with the fact that events of Hobbs & Shaw occurred in the year 2022. After much debate, I decided to leave out COVID-19 in the storyline because it doesn't exactly fit, and I don't want to write about it when I'm using writing to cope with the damn thing haha.

3. I know there are inconsistencies with the ages of these characters. I've found Deckard and Owen's birth dates as being 1973 and 1976. In that case, based on how the kids look in the flashbacks in Hobbs and Shaw, I'd say Deckard and Hattie look at least 5 or 6 years apart, and while I know the actress who plays her is born in 1988, for the purpose of this story, I have the character Hattie being born in 1978.

4. The chapters are split between present events and past events that will eventually catch up to the present events. Please watch the headings so you're not confused. The plan is to go over events like Brixton's friendship with Deckard and his death, how Eteon framed him, and Kate and Deckard's relationship.

5. Lastly, it's a crossover with Sicario, but I'm mainly using the character of Kate Macer (portrayed by Emily Blunt). You won't need to have seen that film as I do major character development for her. For the purpose of this story, Kate Macer was born in 1977 in England, not the States.

My apologies for the long author's note. There won't be anymore of those moving forward. Thank you, and happy reading!

September 2014

"If anyone can stop him, she can," Mr. Nobody said, tapping his finger on the desk. Sheppard frowned, looking at him.

"Who?" he asked.

Mr. Nobody picked up the file on the table and slid it across to him, and Sheppard caught it with his fingertips before flipping it open. A woman stared up at him with such a fierce look in her eye that he jerked back a little.

"I know, right?" Mr. Nobody chuckled.

"Who is she?" Sheppard asked.

"She is the former wife of Deckard Shaw," Mr. Nobody replied.

"Wait...what?!"

"He's still a man, Sheppard," Mr. Nobody pointed out. "He had a life before all of this." He watched Sheppard study the woman more closely, and he knew that if he could just convince her to talk to Deckard, then perhaps it would stop the man's revengeful rampage before anyone else got hurt. You see, Mr. Nobody knew all about Deckard Shaw, his father, his history, his legacy...how he was framed by Eteon and almost murdered by his own friend, which made him have to kill said friend. The man had a lot of rage inside of him, and no wonder. Mr. Nobody wanted Deckard to realize that he didn't need to do this revenge, and the only person who could convince him of this was her.

He just had to find her.

Days Earlier

Kate Macer picked up the pen with shaky fingers and signed her name. When she finished, she put the pen down and looked up at the man sitting across from her.

"Wow," he said, exhaling hard. "It's over."

"Evan," Kate started. He held up his hand.

"It's not a mistake," he cut her off. She bit her tongue to prevent her response from coming out. That was not what she was going to say. He really was conceited.

"I'm moving," she said, raising a brow. "I just wanted you to know that."

"Oh," he said, looking a little embarrassed. "Moving where?"

"None of your business," she answered, standing up.

"So why even tell me?" Evan asked, standing up also.

"Just so you don't come looking for me to beg me to come back to you," she said, making an "oh, snap!" face at him before walking firmly towards the door and leaving her freshly new ex-husband behind her. She pulled out her phone as she walked towards her car.

It's done, she texted.

How does it feel? the response came.

Like I lost 150 pounds.

LMAO! You go, girl! Call me later.

Will do, Hattie.

Kate smiled as she pocketed her phone and got into her car. She'd kept in touch with Hattie throughout the years. They had been close friends growing up. They'd been close in their early 20s too. Then they had drifted for a bit. Kate took a pause, thinking about that time of her life. She felt as though she had been so naive then. She also felt like she'd never felt love for someone the way she had felt love for Hattie's brother. She started the car and drove away, leaving the latest mistake in her life behind in the dust.

...

Deckard Shaw jerked awake with a gasp and spent five seconds ready to fight when he realized he was not in imminent danger. Then he relaxed and tried to breathe. The image of his brother, Owen, scarred up and lying there half dead in the hospital haunted him. He rubbed his face and groaned as he sat up. He felt conflicted about his brother. They had a lot of fond memories growing up, but then Owen had turned dark, and Deckard didn't know how to reach him to bring him back. Their mother, Magdalene (fondly dubbed "Queenie" by their father), had given him the ultimate tongue lashing about how he wasn't a good brother if he let Owen get into the mess he'd gotten into. This angered Deckard because he had spent a lot of his time growing up covering Owen's ass and taking beatings for things he hadn't even done, and here he was cleaning up Owen's mess again. He was finishing yet another fight.

Deckard got up and went for water, looking out at the city of Tokyo. He switched his mind over to thinking about Dominic Toretto and his crew. He felt his blood boil just thinking about them all. Yes, Owen pissed him off and he hated how dark his brother had gotten, but he was still his brother, and no one had the right to try to kill him and then disappear. Deckard was going to teach them all a lesson. He looked at the cross on the table next to Owen's other things from the warehouse Deckard had salvaged. Toretto was all about family. Well, in his own way, so was Deckard.

By tonight, he'd have his first revenge.

...

Kate sipped her beer and watched everyone around her in the bar have a good time. She was all set for her move to Arizona. She was hoping to start fresh there. She was grateful the FBI had let her transfer offices, but she knew she couldn't stay where she was working alongside Evan every day. He'd probably end up getting shot, and that would just be a lot of paperwork to fill out.

"Hey, babe," a random guy said, approaching her with a big grin. "You look a little lonely over here."

"I'm not alone," she answered, looking at the stool behind her. "Bob's with me too."

The man looked at the empty stool and back at her with a confused expression until he seemed to become nervous and walked away. Kate smiled. All you had to do was pretend you were mental, and people left you alone. Most of the time.

When her phone started to ring, she answered.

"Kate!" Hattie cried. "You're a free woman! Please tell me you're out there getting wasted and finding your way into another man's arms?"

"I'm drinking, but I'm not looking for a man right now," Kate answered, chuckling. "How are you?"

"Just fine," Hattie answered. "But I don't want to talk about me. I want to talk about you."

"I'm boring," Kate tried.

"You are a lot of things, but boring is not one of them," Hattie argued. "I really miss you, Kate. When are you coming to visit?"

"I don't know."

"It's a shame your whole family moved away," Hattie went on. "Remember the barbecues we used to have?"

"We had some good times," Kate laughed.

"We did," Hattie agreed. There was quiet then, and Kate knew she was thinking about how her entire family was involved in the life of crime, leaving her the only one left to be a law-abiding citizen.

"Do you still not talk to them?" Kate asked.

"I can't bring myself to," Hattie answered. "I don't know why."

Kate refrained from asking about Hattie's brother. They had parted ways six years ago, which had started her on the path towards Evan.

"Maybe one day," she said instead.

"Maybe," Hattie agreed. "Well, drink up and please meet someone."

"I just got divorced, Hattie," Kate laughed. "I don't want to meet anyone for a very long time."

"Don't marry your job," Hattie groaned. "Live a little. Please."

"I'll try."

"All right. I'll take it. Call me soon," Hattie said before hanging up. Kate tucked her phone away again and finished her drink.

Then she had another.

12 Hours Later

There was no going back. Deckard maneuvered his car along the street while keeping an eye out for that certain orange car. A piece of him was questioning why he was doing this, but the rest of him told him it was justice. He was a mercenary now after all. This was what he did, take out targets. He didn't think about their lives or their families (if they had one) or if they deserved to die or not. A job was a job, and he was treating this like a job despite the dash of personal revenge that was stuck in there. He wanted Toretto to hurt as much as he hurt after hearing about how close he'd been to losing Owen.

As he slammed into the orange car, sending it skidding and crashing across the pavement, he was surprised to feel regret and even more surprised to think about what a certain person would think of him now for doing this. He got out as the car caught fire, and he walked towards it. He had time to undo what he'd done, but the image of Owen's scarred skin and comatose body popped into his head again, and he felt his resolve harden. He dropped the necklace on the ground by the car and started to walk away, pulling out his phone to dial.

"Dominic Toretto," he said. "You don't know me. You're about to."