Zane was NOT dressed for the club. Nobody would pull up to the club in a sky-blue rain hoodie, black joggers, and a pair of black Chuck Taylors… well, nobody except for him. Still, even as he tried to fix his dirty blonde hair a little, he reconsidered the idea of rushing back home to change or something. Sure, he would lose his place in line, but the night was still young, and he hadn't even made much progress. The young man sighed softly as the line moved. Once he was inside, he blinked a bit to get the flashing lights out of his face. The music blared loudly as numerous people were walking around in the dark open area.

As he looked around, he tried to recognize Spike, different sections were taken up by different people, some looked like people that he'd seen in magazine. He saw an Asian man with spiky hair that he thought was someone else. He also saw tall man with long hair and a massive beard that he swore looked like a famous Porsche collector he'd seen on YouTube. And then there was Ken Block. Ken fucking Block. Yeah, Zane knew for a fact that he saw the famous rally driver sitting in a section as there was no way he could miss that flat bill cap with the Monster Energy logo. If Ken Block could be in here then so could Magnus Walker based on that beard and hair, maybe even Shinichi Morohoshi from Japan. Zane's mind would have blown to bits processing the sudden amount of star power if Spike hadn't finally found him.

"Ohhh shit! My man, you made it!" Zane looked past two girls who were heading to the dance floor to find Spike rushing up with a drink in his hand. He would use his free hand to dap Zane up as he continued, "lookin' smooth Man, that's good."

"Thanks," said Zane, "I didn't have much time to change but y'know, I'm passable." Zane could hear Spike speaking loudly over the music and had to do so himself, after all it was a nightclub.

"You gotta be if security let you through, but anyways check this out: I got some people for you to meet alright?" Spike was already moving, and Zane followed though they weren't going in either direction of the two notable figures in the car community. Instead, they were walking towards a small group of people dancing with neon necklaces. The young man would make a move to tap one of the women on the shoulder, the shorter one with blonde hair that fell down her back. The woman would turn around, recognize him, and smile brightly.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in!" She exclaimed as she pulled Spike in for a hug, Zane assumed that this was one of Spike's friends and probably a member of the crew that he was supposed to meet. She would then glance over at him and raise an eyebrow as she kept her friendly smile while speaking into Spike's ear, "who's Bambi?"

"'Bambi,' goes by Zane," said Spike after he pulled out of the hug and looked between the woman and Zane, "and like thirty minutes ago he weaved through oncoming traffic busted a five-hundred-foot drift off I-5 and onto Turner, Man! Shit was insane, you should've seen it, it was Crazy! Putting the skid in 'skidrow,' know what I'm sayin'?!"

The praise definitely made Zane feel his face turn pink as his driving skills never felt all that impressive. Well, that's not ENTIRELY true but it's still nice to get some validation… even if it's in Spike's cheesy accent.

"Must've been something!" She said over the music as she looked him over for a moment, "I haven't seen anyone hype up Spike like this since uh-… never mind he's ALWAYS like this!"

"Uh-huh, and that's why you love me…" Spike chimed in briefly before taking a sip from his drink and almost looking like he wanted to hide his beaming face. The woman didn't seem to notice as she stepped up to offer her hand to Zane.

"Robyn," she said as Zane accepted the handshake and found her looking him in the eyes, "good luck trying to keep up."

"Zane," he said with his own friendly smile, "I'll do what I can."

"Trust me, Babe. He'll be just fine…" he took another quick sip before he continued, "you know what? I'm gonna take him to see Travis right now, maybe shift one of those rides taking up all our space! Yo, Zane you trying to get outta here or stick around?"

In truth, Zane wasn't all into the club scene anyways, maybe because he was sober and wasn't all that in the mood to try and make out with some stranger. "Uhm… yeah, I'm down for whatever. Let's go."

"Aight, bet. Let's go!" And just like that Spike was on the move again, Robyn could only chuckle as she saw him leave, saluting Zane before going back to her dancing. Meanwhile Zane was following Spike through the back and out towards the other side of the block. The muffled sounds of the club could be heard through the thick walls of the garage as Spike led inside. The more prominent sounds were that of a ratchet in motion as a woman in overalls was working on a car while a man off in the back was doing some work on a punching bag.

"'Sup Ames," Spike said to the woman.

"'Sup," she repsonded without looking up.

"That's Amy, Amy that's Zane," he said as he walked by and glanced at his new friend, "isn't she lovely?" He then looked over back at Amy as she stopped working her ratchet and gave him the middle finger, something that made him laugh, "yeah, love you too!" Zane waved at her, but she had already looked down by the time he could even move.

The two then walked over to the back where a man was punching a punching bag. He was tall, seemed to be rather lean and wore a red and white trucker hat over his long blonde hair. With his tank top and jeans, he looked like a redneck that you didn't want to underestimate.

"Travis!" Spike called out to get the man's attention.

"Yo," he said calmly as he kept up his work on the bag.

"There's someone I want you to meet."

"Oh yeah? Tell me why?" Travis seemed to have a little bit of an accent though it didn't bother Zane the same way Spike's did or, at least, could.

"You shoulda seen this guy, Man. Control is off the fucking hook!"

The punching suddenly stopped. Travis moved to get the bag to stay still as it hung from the ceiling, glancing at Zane with a look of curiosity.

"Well," he said as he turned to face them both, "you seem to have caught the attention of Speed Racer over here."

"True shit, Man. This one… he's a fucking helmsman."

Travis was quiet for a moment as he looked at Zane, raising an eyebrow. Within two seconds he nodded and made his way around the cage that separated them. "You picked a good time to re-up, there's a lot of big talent that's been going through Ventura Bay over the past few months. They're looking for some people to try and make some history. Serendipity, Brother. The stars are aligning, and I think we just found our final piece in our puzzle of success."

"Huh?" Zane said as he looked confused, just what was this guy talking about? Then, he remembered that he'd seen at least two major driving icons in the same place just a few minutes ago. It was a bit crazy how in one night he was meeting a crew while there were big names in the car community out and about.

"There's no such thing as a bad time to start a new project," said Travis before he looked Zane up and down and then made eye contact. It wasn't like Robyn's, Travis' was more… intense. "Whatever's happening in that ribcage in there, needs to be expressed out there on the streets. Loud and proud."

"Right…" he said as he still hadn't figured out what Travis was saying. "So, I'm Zane."

"Zane, huh? Alright, Zane. How about you check out some of those cars over there and see what you can do with them?"

"I mean, I already got a car thoug-"

"Yeah man but you're not winning shit with that fucking hooptie," said Spike, "just check out what we got in here for a bit."

Zane looked over at the three cars that were all cramped in the garage. He hadn't taken the time to really check them out, but he was able to vaguely recognize them. The first was an older Honda Civic but with a little sort of badge that said, "Type-R," that meant it was made for racing or at least some performance driving while being a Civic. The second was a Mustang Foxbody which meant it was a Mustang from the 80s or early 90s. Lastly there was a Subaru that seemed newer, but Zane rarely paid much attention to newer cars, mostly because he couldn't hope to afford one without some bullshit loan or lease. If he was going to trade in his Volvo he'd need something cheap, at least by California standards. Roughly a half hour later after some quick teste drives, Zane was handing over the keys to his Volvo and damn near every single bit of cash he saved up for his move over to Travis for an old Honda Civic that had a little more bite that it looked.

"Welcome to the clan, Zane. Stick with us and you'll make every cent of this cash back real quick ya hear me?"

"Wait, just like that?" Zane asked as Travis handed him his new pink slip. "I, like, just got here and shit. No fucking team meeting or anything like that?"

"Nah," he said," we're a crew, not some fucking Country Club. We don't have enough cocaine and uhm… compensated companions for all that." He chuckled for a moment before he continued, "don't worry, there's a lotta things you can do in Ventura Bay's lil car scene but going broke ain't one of them if you got skills. Good trade," he said in regard to the car as he glanced at it, "she'll take care of ya'. Listen I gotta handle a lil deal out there but I'll see y'all in a bit. How 'bout you see what Amy and Spike are doin'? Maybe get them to race you so you get a real feel of that car." He gave Zane a friendly tap on the shoulder as the young man nodded and went over to see his new crew members.

"C'mooooon Ames I just need you to listen to it, make sure she's purring like she's supposed to… wassup, Man… please. Please please…"

"Ugh," she said as she was getting up from under her raised blue car off to the side of the garage, "I already told you Spike: I got guys with NO trust find paying FULL price for this sorta thing."

"Damn, so it's like that?"

"Yeah," she said with an unapologetic shrug, " it's like that."

"Okay fine," he said, "wait here." He would then zip over towards the desk in the corner to get a sharpie and a notepad, after some strong scented scribbling he'd hand her an IOU with a goofy smile on his face.

"Wow, I feel so much better now," she said as she showed Zane the note before crumpling it up."

"Oh, c'mon you know I'm good for it- Agh!"

Amy had just slapped his shoulder, "you mean your dad's good for it."

So, Spike's dad was rich? That would explain his newer and faster car. Zane figured that Spike had to have a lot of money tucked up somewhere as not every guy in hi early twenties could afford an M2.

"Easy, this jacket was like twelve hundred!"

"Exactly."

"Ugh… Zane, man… don't even matter if you're the best driver on this side of the Fortune Valley, it don't mean shit to her unless you got that guap."

"How poetic," she said as she came around the other side," and surprisingly accurate so…"

"Mhmm… yo, Zane. While you were finishing up with Travis, we got word to meet up with the rest of the crew. C'mon, let's head out and see what that front wheel drive can do eh?"

He had a small smile on his face as he led them to the open area of the garage.

"Oh yeah," said Zane, "we'll see alright. Wait, where are we going?"

"I can text you the location," said Amy as she took her phone up from the desk, "just hang on a sec…"

Soon enough after a quick number exchange the three of them were on the road and heading to a warehouse where the crew pools their money together to rent out for extra car space. Amy would then give Spike a quick rundown on how their crew operates.

"We keep in contact, follow each other on social media and stuff and just try to, like, stay in touch with other folks in the Bay. Gotta keep things hush hush for discretion, so we've got a private group to share locations for events and shit like that."

"So, it's just five of us?" He asked as so far, he'd only met four people.

"Nah, six. You, me, Rich Boy over there, Travis, Robyn, and Manu. You'll meet Manu later on at the warehouse," Amy said as she was walking over to pick up her keys and get to her own car, "living ain't easy in Cali so we make due by going to races and stuff to win prize money."

"Yeah," he said as he recalled reading about Ventura Bay's underground scene online. Like many other areas in the country, Ventura Bay has an underground racing scene based around gambling. Drivers buy in together and the winner gets the money. In a crew's case, if multiple crew members win then they split the winnings. Racing had become so big over the past decade that the street racing market had grown immensely. Everyone and their mother were looking to get the best cars with the best parts so that they could be somebody, but that came at a price. The jump in street racing came with the rise of police forces all over the world adapting their own vehicles to keep up with the tuned up street cars.

"Alright, Boys." Amy said to them both, "Robyn and Manu are waitin' on us at the warehouse, let's see who can get there first eh?"

It seemed like such and innocent request that they raced. However, after Zane had gotten in his new car and put the location in his GPS he realized that Amy was much more serious about racing that he initially thought. At a first glance, the redhead with her hair braided on the side and walking around in overalls seemed like she preferred to work on cars rather than drive them. With that logic it was easy to assume that she wasn't all that into the thrill of driving. Zane paid dearly for that assumption.

Both Zane and Spike were picking up speed as they the light rain fell. It was half past ten and they only had about eight miles of road to get through. Zane put his foot on the gas and a hand on his stick shift, keeping his clutch foot ready for when it was time to shift gears. The Civic wasn't like his old Volvo, it had MUCH more life in it as it sped up and responded to his movements. He would weave his way around a black sedan, before moving forward and cutting off Amy to get ahead. If he's quick enough, he'll be able to gain some ground before they hit the highway and he can speed off. However, Amy was riding his ass like it was nothing. The darkness of the night (and her own tints) prevented Zane from seeing her face through his rear-view mirror but he couldn't help but wonder how she looked when she drove. What he saw instead was far more than he would have expected from her.

Amy drove a '96 Nissan 180SX, an older car than his own but that didn't matter. Zane would work his way up the road, trying to get a feel for his car as he tried to speed his way through the traffic, the car felt stiff and even didn't feel like it could really put to the power he needed on the open road. Amy was behind him the whole way, keeping close and allowing him to carve a path for her. Meanwhile Spike was moving to overcome the traffic all at once, finding gaps in the traffic that he could shoot through until he was in the open left lane. Zane glanced over to his left as he heard Spike's engine roar, this had to be it since Spike's BMW was no joke. And yet, Amy somehow slipped past Zane while he wasn't looking and shot her way up in front of him.

"What the fuck?!" He shouted out loud as he saw her zoom past him, he could almost hear her turbocharger as she rocketed her way into the left lane, cutting off Spike as he was about to gain speed and then leaving the crowded clump of traffic to reach the open road. Zane shook his head; she was gone after that, and he had the feeling that neither of them were catching her. In truth, he wasn't just impressed but also amazed. She might have just pulled off the smoothest sudden win that he'd ever seen.